The Bacolod City government is exploring ways to maximize the use of the recently-opened multi-billion Bacolod-Negros Occidental Economic Highway (BANOCEH).
Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairperson of the committee on traffic and transportation, said yesterday that the city council is awaiting the recommendations on the study of the Bacolod Traffic and Transportation Management Department (BTTMD) regarding the proposal to restrict trucks, large vehicles, heavy equipment, and other similar vehicles along the Circumferential Road and allow these types of vehicles to pass through the BANOCEH instead.
“This will be the basis for us to enforce a total truck ban [through an ordinance] along the Circumferential Road, especially to sugarcane trucks, since there is already a new access road. This ordinance will ensure that the use of BANOCEH is maximized, and Circumferential Road will be free of trucks,” Espino said in an interview.
He added that once all sugarcane trucks are limited to the BANOCEH, the Circumferential Road will become safer for motorists and pedestrians.
A portion of the Circumferential Road, one of the city’s major thoroughfares with heavy traffic volume daily, passes along the Bacolod City Government Center in the eastern part of the city.
In a resolution passed last week, the City Council directed the BTTMD to assess the feasibility of requiring trucks, large vehicles, heavy equipment, and other similar vehicles to exclusively use the BANOCEH while restricting their access to the Circumferential Road.
Espino said the city council will also ask the City Planning and Development Office to conduct a corresponding study on the allocation of resources in the utilization of the BANOCEH.
Funded by the national government, the more than P7-billion modern road network is eyed to create more growth centers in this city following the completion of the road concreting on August 30.
The BANOCEH, which starts from Bacolod South Road junction along Barangay Sum-ag in Bacolod City, going towards the Bacolod North Road junction in Victorias City, spans a 48.8-kilometer stretch that involves the opening, concreting, and improvement of roads along with the construction and enhancement of 16 bridges. (PNA)