TALAVERA, Nueva Ecija—This first-class town in northern Nueva Ecija, one of only four towns in the province where President Duterte won in last May’s elections, is eyeing the construction of a flyover to solve the daily traffic in its major thoroughfares.
Mayor Nerivi Santos-Martinez said she hoped a flyover like the ones built by the national government in Malolos City and Baliuag town in Bulacan would lighten the heavy volume of vehicles passing through Maharlika Highway here.
“Hopefully, the national government would bless us with a flyover project so traffic would loosen up in Talavera,” Santos-Martinez said.
The town’s rapid urbanization has also attracted more vehicles from Metro Manila, Baguio City, and Central Luzon provinces, the mayor added.
She said the flyover should be akin to the P96-million Baliuag-Candaba Flyover built 15 years ago, which solved traffic in the area, or the prefabricated steel flyover in Malolos built in 2004.
This town, at 14,256 hectares, is considered the largest municipality in the province. The fast-paced economic activity here has seen an influx of big business establishments such as WalterMart and Save More, as well as resorts, restaurants and hotels.
However, Santos-Martinez said the daily traffic “has seriously affected its ability to function normally, with the lengthy traffic jams slowing down commerce.”
Talavera covers 24.7 kilometers of national roads, including the 16.9-kilometer Maharlika Highway. As it is centrally located, the town is one of the pivotal transport gateways of the region.
Santos-Martinez said the provincial government, through former governor Aurelio Umali and his successor, Gov. Czarina Umali, has jump-started the construction of a P174-million by-pass project traversing a remote portion of Talavera as alternative route of vehicles.
The project, started by R.Z. Roncal Construction Corp. last Oct. 5, 2015, will be finished in June.
“Maybe, we would be needing another by-pass road parallel to the other side, so we could further ease the traffic,” the mayor said.