By Joenald Medina Rayos
SAN PASCUAL, Batangas – MOTORISTS in the mid-section of Batangas province will now experience a shorter travel time and avoid a grueling traffic on rush hours. This developed as DPWH Secretary Mark Villar together with Batangas 2nd District Congressman Raneo E. Abu and 5th District Congressman Marvey Mariño led the ribbon cutting ceremony and opening of the Batangas City-San Pascual-Bauan Diversion Road, Wednesday noon.
The 10-kilometer diversion road the old national highway in Barangay Balagtas and traverses westward to Barangay Banaba, Bayanan, laurel and Palsahigin in San Pascual town towards northwest to Manghinao in Bauan town.
“We are looking forward that our motoring public will utilize this new road network which will hasten economic activities in this area,” Villar said.
Travel period of approximately two hours from Batangas City to Bauan will now be cut to only 10 to 15 minutes, a relatively friendly development compared to the situation some few years back.
“In the past, it has been the problem of both the commuting public and truckers transporting goods to and from this area, spending so many hours in the road causing so much delays in attending classes, in workplaces and in other transactions… but today, you can see the effect of building new road network,” Congressman Raneo E. Abu said.
The diversion road is a 4-lane road network of 10.88 kilometers with six (6) concrete bridges with a total of 380 linear meters. Villar inaugurated the project in July 2017.
In a report of District Engineer Sonia Paglicawan, the diversion road is envisioned as alternative road to the Batangas City-Bauan portion of the Batangas City-Palico National Highway where the travel time of two (2) hours will be reduced to 30-45 minutes using the new diversion road.
The whole road network will have a total cost of P1,927.31 million. A sum of P312 million is appropriated this year, while another P447 million will complete the project by December 2022.
While being completed, a 1-kilometer by-pass road is now underway to connect this Batangas City-San Pascual-Bauan Diversion Road to the Startollway-Pinamucan Diversion Road that will hasten the flow of traffic to the industrial zones of Batangas City.
Before going back to Manila, Villar also inspected the other high-impact infrastructure projects in the CALABARZON area.| – BNN
