TACLOBAN CITY, March 201 (PIA) -  President Rodrigo Duterte in his March 17 visit to Leyte, has inaugurated the new Tacloban City Bypass Road project under the "Build, Build, Build" Program of the Department of Public Work and Highways (DPWH), as funded by the Philippine  Government.

Aaccompanied by Senator Bong Go, and Presidentoial Adviser for the Visayas Micahel Dino, the President immediately proceeded to the designated venue upon his arrival in the city, for the inauguration ceremony, where he was met by no less than the Department of Public Works and Highways Secretay Roger Mercado, Tacloban City Mayor Alfred Romualdez, Majority Floor Leader and Leyte First District Congressman Martin Romualdez, together with other government officials. 

With the President’s presence, Secetaary Mercado gave a brief on the bypass road project, after which the symbolic unveiling of the roads’s marker took place.

The Tacloban City Bypass Road project involved the construction and concreting of a 6.405km rod along Daang Maharlika. This connects barangays in Nula-Tula and Caibaan in Tacloban, with the aim to improve the road network efficiency, enhance travel experience and facilitate access to the City of Tacloban, one of the rapidly growing commercial and residential centers in the Visayas.

Prior to the construction of the Bypass Road project, there were no roads that could be used as a potential bypass route for Daang Maharlika, which could ease the transportation of people and goods to the southern and northern parts of the region

It was likewise noted that based on the assessment of the DPWH Regional Office VIII, the road facility within the city proper was no longer able to sustain the increasing traffic congestion caused by the economic developments in the surrounding areas.

With the completion of the bypass road, there is now enhanced accessibility that will surely increase development of potential areas within and outside Tacloban City.

The project involved the construction of a four-lane and six-lane roadways, paving of shoulders, construction of drainage and slope protection structures, thereby reducing travel time which would benefit thousands of motorists each day. (GTT/PIA-Leyte)