Bukidnon-Davao road detour opened to ease holiday traffic

QUEZON, BUKIDNON—The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has temporarily opened a newly built four-lane gravel detour road along the Bukidnon-Davao (Buda) national highway to ease the heavy holiday traffic.

The detour route is located just above the portion of the highway at Sitio Kipolot in Barangay Palacapao here that collapsed on Oct. 18 due to a massive landslide.

Long queues of vehicles were observed on Tuesday afternoon as all types of vehicle were allowed to pass through the 460-meter detour road.

Roshelle Novie Cabrido, DPWH information officer in Northern Mindanao region, said the detour was opened only for temporary use during peak travel days, specifically from Dec. 23 to Dec. 26, and again from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1, while construction continues on nonpeak days.

Cabrido added that the agency had acceded to the request of Quezon Mayor Pablo Lorenzo III given that there is an expected high volume of vehicles using the Buda road, which is the shortest link between Northern Mindanao and Davao regions.

Lyle Justin Egay, Quezon municipal information officer, welcomed the move, noting how the Buda road is a vital link between Northern Mindanao and Davao, especially during the Christmas season when the movement of people and goods increases.

Trucks allowed

Although still a gravel road, the detour can already handle heavy trucks, Cabrido said.

After the temporary schedules, the route will again be shut to give way to full blast work, in hopes it will be finished and fully opened by mid-January next year, she added.

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To stave off economic losses due to the road collapse, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon had ordered DPWH engineers to hasten the building of the detour route.

The project costs P46.6 million, funded through the agency’s Quick Response Fund.

When fully opened, the route will significantly ease, if not address, the disruption to transportation and logistics that cause economic losses to the tune of P187 million every day, per estimate by government economists.