Newly replaced bridge ‘will change complexion of traffic in the city’

BACOLOD City – Mayor Evelio Leonardia said that the newly replaced and widened Magsungay bridge along Lacson street here “will change the traffic complexion” of the said network.

Leonadia, together with other city officials, led the inauguration of the bridge that leads to the Murcia-Alijis road Tuesday afternoon.

The mayor said the inauguration of the infrastructure excited him because of the impact of this project to the traffic and development of Bacolod.

The bridge spans the Magsungay river along Lacson Extension leading to the Murcia-Alijis road and its original two lanes were expanded into four lanes, a report from the Bacolod Information Office said Wednesday,

The new 4-lane bridge is strategically located as it connects Downtown Bacolod to Alijis, Tangub, Pahanocoy, Cabug, Sum-ag, Mansilingan, and Handumanan.

“Given the volume of cars using this road, this will surely improve traffic flow as not only that the bridge is now 4 lanes but even the road leading from it up to Magsaysay Avenue was also widened into 4 lanes. And as this connects to the other newly widened bridge crossing the Lupit river near the San Antonio Abad Parish Church, its traffic impact in this extremely busy road network is going to be very significant. This bridge will be put to real good use,” Leonardia said.

The replaced and widened bridge is now open for public use.

Meanwhile, the original steel bridge that was dismantled will be installed over a river at Barangay Vista Alegre to connect it with Barangay Granada and will serve the relocation sites there.

Leonardia said the bridge project was one of the major infrastructure projects funded by the loan of the city government with the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP).

“With the DBP loan, we will have more projects. And more projects mean more jobs, and more economic stimulation. It will be one of the factors to revive the local economy,” he said.

This is a big improvement and the next step to do is to see to it that we should recover and have everything in place because Bacolod was growing the fastest ever before the COVID crisis came, the mayor added.

“For me, COVID is just a temporary stop for sure. As soon as the COVID crisis is over, we will go back to business and we will be back on track, and this project is part of that recovery program,” he said.

For Vice Mayor El Cid Familiaran, “Every project of the mayor is a gift to all of us. This is a sign of progress.”

Familiaran said many projects, both private and public funded, temporarily stopped because of COVID. If only COVID did not happen, we can only imagine how fast our development is as a city.

The vice mayor also added that the mayor is giving top priority to the public health and safety of Bacolodnons. One of this is to prioritize the procurement of vaccines once available, so people can go back to their normal lives.

Rep. Greg Gasataya, who was represented by congressional consultant Atty. Mark Steven Mayo, said, “We believe this project is a clear manifestation that we have leaders who never give up no matter how tough the situation is. Mayor Bing is the man who gets the job done.”

“Congratulations to the men and women behind this project, and congratulations even more to the people of Bacolod for we have a leader who shows us that the city is as resilient as he is, as resilient as we are – if we just work together,” Mayo added.

Jerry Sy, president of Silver Dragon Construction, the private contractor that won the public bidding for the project, thanked the city government for the opportunity to serve Bacolod through this infrastructure.

Joining the inauguration were Councilors Renecito Novero, Ana Marie Palermo, and Bartolome Orola, City Administrator Em Ang, special consultant Atty. John Orola, Bacolod City Police Office city director Col. Manuel Placido, Punong Barangays Rosinie Distrito of Singcang-Airport, Deogracias Dela Vega of Alijis, and Tanya Familiaran of Barangay 13.

Also gracing the event were DBP-Bacolod Lending Center head Bernardo Castillon Jr., DBP-Western Visayas Branch Banking Group head Rosemarie Callanta, City Engineer’s Office OIC Engr. Aladino Agbones, project engineer Amy Tentia, Engr. Loben Rafael Ceballos, Supervising and Administrative Officer Federico Guanzon Jr.,  Executive Assistant Butch Soliguen, congressional chief of staff Hugo “Tutay” Corral, Grupo Progreso consultant Marlon Solidum, Sugar Ababao of New Bridge, Richie Corpuz of Pau D’ Arco, and BCPO and BTAO personnel. (With a report from PIO)