A few months ago in April, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has announced that the ongoing construction of the PHP 3.39-billion Binondo-Intramuros Bridge Project is right on track, and could possibly open to the motoring public sometime in the Q4 of this year.
In a recent announcement, the DPWH says that construction is still right on track, but will have a new possible opening date sometime during the first quarter of next year.
As of this writing, the workers observing safe workplace protocols have performed a controlled precast slab installation process on the assembled steel beams of the steel arch bridge which has already completed sling cable tensioning components, says public works secretary, Mark Villar.
Power and telephone lines delay
Undersecretary for Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) operations, Emil Sadain, said that the project is about 77% complete and DPWH UPMO Roads Management Cluster 1 is vigorously following up on their request with Meralco to move or relocate distribution poles and overhead high tension lines that pose serious safety concerns for the on-going construction of ramps in the Binondo and Intramuros areas.
USec. Sadain, together with project manager Melchor Kabiling, conducted an actual field assessment on the problem regarding the existing Meralco and Telco lines which will be affected by the launching of steel box girders for the down-ramp along Estero De Binondo towards Plaza del Conde and Rentas Street and the relocation of affected lines along Muelle de Binondo (near San Nicolas Fire Station) and Rentas Street where the down-ramp of the bridge project will be connected.
The presence of powerlines and other utilities along Estero de Binondo at the north approach bridge posed serious challenges to the tight schedule to complete the new bridge.
The new Binondo-Intramuros Bridge is a 680-meter, basket-handle tied steel arch bridge that will soon connect Intramuros (at Solana Street and Riverside Drive) and Binondo (at San Fernando Bridge) areas with a viaduct structure over Estero de Binondo. It is financed by a government aid grant from the People’s Republic of China.
Once completed, the bridge is expected to not only cut travel time between the two busy districts but also move approximately 30,000 vehicles daily off of the existing bridges along the Pasig River in Manila.
