‘Make Cebu City roads more traffic - friendly’

06/17/10 - Incoming Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama yesterday said he wanted roads free of obstructions, including those occupied by vendors around Carbon market.

He also wants the downtown Parian area traffic-free on weekends so that tourists can stroll by heritage houses and museums like Casa Gorordo.

Rama attended the weekly meeting of the Cebu City Integrated Traffic Operations Management (Citom) and told the board to plan how to keep roads friendly to motorists and pedestrians.

“We have to face the fact that there are available roads in Carbon market that are not fully used but we have to see to it the road is to be a vehicle road,” he said.

Rama, however, said, roving vendors will not necessrily be removed from the roads.

How to go about it, he left it to the Citom to determine.

“ They will have to plan it...I want the road network to be taken seriously,” Rama said.

Rama earlier promised one of his priorities in his first 100 days in office, after June 30, is to clear road networks of obstructions.

“We are expecting some demolitions in the next few days in areas where roads are occupied by illegal settlers,” said Citom chief Arnel Tancinco.

The acting mayor asked Citom to conduct a dry run-in converting part of barangay Parian into a pedestrian zone on weekends.

He said a road where people can just walk by old houses was a potential tourist attraction.

Meanwhile, no more traffic snarls were experienced outside the tunnel of the South Coastal Road a day after the opening of classes.

City workers removed temporary tents set up for Tinago fire victims which were blocking two lanes of Osmeña road outside the tunnel.

Last Monday, as students flocked back to school, a major traffic jam erupted outside the tunnel during rush hour traffic past 6 a.m.

Yesterday, however, traffic volume at the SCR tunnel was noticeably less.

Tancicno told CEBU DAILY NEWS that motorists may have avoided the route thinking the road was still occupied with tents. (inquirer)