P3-B Pampanga overhead roadway pushed

Cars may soon fly in San Fernando City, Pampanga, if a proposal in Congress for a P3-billion overhead roadway musters enough political support.

Deputy Speaker Dong Gonzales takes perpetual traffic jams as an engineer and projects a four-lane flyover decongesting the road networks of the already bustling parts of this congressional district that have thrived mostly on food tourism.

"(It) will greatly ease the flow within and around San Fernando and neighboring towns, between San Fernando and Angeles City, and between Pampanga and Nueva Ecija."

He argues that it falls within the ambit of executive action to develop the regions, proposing that the Department of Public Works and Highways include the flyover in its regular infrastructure program and allocate funds for it.

The lay of the DPWH shows the proposed 1.59-kilometer road elegantly winding over Gapan-San Fernando-Olongapo highway, which links Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

It would start in Barangay Dolores before the intersection of GSO and MacArthur Highway, which connects San Fernando and Angeles City, go west and end after the GSO-Lazatin Boulevard crossing in Barangay Magliman in San Fernando.

Gonzales says the makeshift bridges built across two intersections have not been efficient in easing the record bottlenecks of MacArthur Highway and Lazatin Boulevard, and a flyover may just be the right response.

The proposed viaduct would also make access faster to the North Luzon Expressway from San Fernando City, western part of Pampanga and even from Zambales and Bataan.