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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Anduyan roads to aid mobility in North Luzon

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The completion of the Anduyan Bridge and the interlinked Anduyan-Rizal-San Pascual Road and Aringay-Tubao Road connecting La Union and Benguet provinces will boost mobility, tourism, and trade in Northern Luzon, La Union 2nd District Rep. Sandra Y. Eriguel said.

“The people of La Union are very grateful to Secretary Mark Villar and to the whole DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways) family,” said Eriguel, whose late husband Rep. Franny Eriguel pushed for the funding and implementation of the project as early as 2015.

The P493.9-million project, spanning nearly 15 kilometers, will cut travel time from Tubao, La Union to Asin Hot Spring in Tuba, Benguet from more than two hours to 35 minutes.

It will also reduce travel time to Baguio City to less than an hour.  More than 4,000 motorists are expected to benefit from the project per day.

Villar and other DPWH officials led the inauguration of the 360-meter Anduyan Bridge and the 14.24-km road section along Aringay-Tubao Alternate Road leading to Asin Hot Spring and Baguio City on Monday.

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Villar said that with the completion of the Anduyan Bridge and the road project, traffic along Marcos Highway would be decongested as Kennon Road remains closed to the motoring public.

Eriguel said her late husband pushed for the implementation of the project in 2015 to boost tourism in the area.

Frany Eriguel wrote separate letters to then DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson and Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr., requesting for funding for various DPWH-DOT convergence projects.

These including the construction and improvement of Aringay-Tubao Alternate Road Leading to Asin Hot Spring and Baguio City worth P154 million and construction/improvement of Anduyan-Rizal-San Pascual-Nangalesan-Asin Road with a bridge leading to Asin Hot Spring and Baguio City worth P523 million.

While the first proposal was included in the 2016 National Expenditure Program and the 2016 General Appropriations Act, the second project was not included in the NEP.

The late legislator, during the pre-plenary discussion of the proposed 2016 DPWH Budget, pleaded with Singzon that a bridge would be a vital infrastructure project in the province.

“After the persuasive appeal of Cong. Frany and having been convinced of the strategic importance of the bridge, then DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson allocated P280 million in the 2016 DPWH budget for construction of Anduyan Bridge,” said Sandra Eriguel.

“Yes, this bridge was Cong Frany’s pet project.  This would be non-existent and we would have nothing to inaugurate without his persistent efforts,” she added.

“This bridge was his dream.  In fact, I can call this as ‘Franny’s Dream Bridge’ or in Ilocano ‘Frany’s Arapaap Rangtay’.  Fran and I inspected this project in February.  He was excitedly looking forward to the scheduled inauguration in June 2018.  But, sadly, he was murdered on May 12.  However, we shall continue the dream of Frany,” Eriguel said.

Eriguel said Villar, the incumbent DPWH secretary, subsequently granted her requests and earmarked P40 million in the 2017 DPWH budget for the concreting of the portion of Aringay-Tubao Road and an additional P30 million in the 2018 DPWH budget for Aringay-Tubao Road shoulder improvement.

Eriguel also said that with the recommendation of DPWH, the House of Representatives approved last year her proposed House Bill No. 6391 which aims to convert the road stretching from Barangay Anduyan in Tubao, La Union to Barangay San Pascual in Tuba, Benguet into a national road.

The bill is already in the Senate for its consideration and approval.

The said road section is interconnected to an adjacent national road, the Asin Nangalisan-San Pascual Road in Tuba, Benguet, which was converted earlier into a national road by virtue of Republic Act No. 10406.

Eriguel said that once completed, the national road will further boost tourism in La Union and Benguet.

“The road section, which links the provinces of La Union and Benguet, provides a more picturesque alternative to the Marcos Highway and the older Kennon Road.  It leads to Asin Hot Springs, the Bencab Museum and other famous tourist spots. Hence, it would boost tourism in the area,” she said.

“The people of La Union would greatly appreciate it also if Secretary Mark could allocate more funds for the improvement of the remaining portions of the said road sections as well as other key projects in our district and the province,” Eriguel said.

These critical projects include flood control to solve the flooding of La Union towns which become catch basin of the flood waters from the mountains and the shore protection of coastal communities which have been found as high risks by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau in its Flood Geohazard Map.

“We also hope that the TPLEX (Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway) would be extended to other towns of La Union,” she said.

Eriguel said she will submit a list of these important projects to Secretary Villar as soon as the programs of work and cost estimates were completed by DPWH Region 1.

“Let us ‘Build, Build, Build’ in La Union,” said Eriguel.

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