UPDATED - The last form traveler that was used to build the main bridge of the P30-billion Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) was lowered Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2021, more than three years after construction began.
The demobilization of the form travelers came around two weeks after the Cebu Cordova Link Expressway Corp. (CCLEC), the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. subsidiary that built the bridge, concreted the two-meter gap between the first and two towers of the main bridge deck.
The new toll expressway links the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR) in the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City to Barangay Pilipog in Cordova town and the Mactan Circumferential Road on Mactan Island.
It is targeted to begin commercial operations in the first quarter of 2022, upon completion of the other segments.
In a statement issued Thursday, Oct. 21, CCLEC said the entire structure was 85.38% complete as of Sept. 30, 2021.
Work on the following has been completed:
Installation of 56 stay cables holding the deck;
Installation of 434 Nebraska University girders;
Dismantling of the mobile launching gantry that was used to install the cables and girders;
Construction of the 200-meter pedestrian footbridge beside the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR), which will connect the U-turn slot of the South Road Properties' (SRP's) welcome tower to the on-ramp sidewalk of CCLEX;
Installation of six prefabricated steel walkways;
Construction of the substructures of the CSCR on-ramp and off-ramp sections;
Cordova viaduct is structurally complete;
Installation of 20 vent pipes to equalize the flow of seawater in the Cordova Channel; and
The four low-level bridges along the causeway.
Meanwhile, work is ongoing on the following:
Installation of precast planks at the on-ramp and off-ramp sections of CCLEX;
Concreting of the deck slab;
Installation of handrails and ducting at the Cordova viaduct;
Construction of concrete safety barriers at the causeway;
Installation of sidewalk handrails at the causeway; and
Construction of the toll plaza and the CCLEX Operations and Maintenance Center.
MPTC president and CEO Rodrigo E. Franco, in a statement in July 2021, said an electronic toll collection system was being set up to allow cashless transactions and seamless travel on the bridge. The toll is being finalized.
The bridge has a span of 8.9 kilometers, two lanes in each direction, a design speed of 80 to 90 kilometers per hour, and navigational clearance of 51 meters for shipping traffic.
It is expected to serve at least 50,000 vehicles daily and decongest traffic on the Sergio Osmeña Jr. Bridge and the Marcelo Fernan Bridge, the existing structures that link mainland Cebu and Mactan Island. (Ventures Cebu)
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