President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. and Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon led the inauguration of the P2.34-billion Camalaniugan Bridge in Alcala, Cagayan on Thursday, officially opening the 1,580-meter structure that directly connects Camalaniugan and Aparri towns.
The new cable-stayed bridge consists of 1,100 meters of approaches and a 480-meter main span. It provides an alternative route to the Magapit Suspension Bridge, the only previous northern crossing of the Cagayan River, and is projected to serve about 6,000 travelers daily, enhancing regional trade, agriculture, logistics and tourism while strengthening economic linkages in the province.
With the bridge open to traffic, travel time between Aparri and Ballesteros is expected to fall from roughly one hour to as little as 20 minutes, easing congestion, reducing transportation costs, and improving daily commutes for residents and transport operators, the Department of Public Works and Highways said in a statement.
In leading the inauguration, Mr. Marcos said the bridge would serve ”as a model for many of the other bridge projects that we will be seeing around the country.”
”So, I congratulate the Public Works for their very good work here and to see that everything was completed on time and on budget,” Mr. Marcos said.
”And despite all of the other issues that we’re having to deal with, patuloy pa rin ang kanilang naging trabaho at kaya naman, nakarating na ang araw na ito na binuksan natin ang Camalaniugan Bridge (the DPWH continues with their work and because of that we reached the day that we inagurated the bridge),” he added.
