DPWH road
The road project will further reduce travel time to and from Barangay Puerto and Barangay Igpit. Credit: Republic of the Philippines.

The Philippines Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) plans to extend the road from Barangay Puerto in Opol, Misamis Oriental, to Barangay Gusa, Cagayan De Oro City.

The road extension project, which is proposed to be included in the DPWH’s budget for 2021, will further reduce travel time to and from Barangay Puerto and Barangay Igpit.

Upon project completion, the existing travel time of one hour and 30 minutes through Butuan City-Cagayan de Oro City-Iligan City Road (BCIR) will be reduced to just 25 minutes through the CDO Coastal Road Extension.

The project is expected be completed in 2024 upon the release of funding.

DPWH secretary Mark Villar said: “To further ease mobility in the city, we hope to extend additional 9.30km of road, which will be under Phase 2 of the project starting next year.

“We also would like to include street lights, sidewalk, bike lane, trees and other public space component to further improve aesthetic of this road.”

At present, DPWH is working on the remaining civil works of the 17.97km Cagayan de Oro Coastal Road phase 1 project at the Barangay Puntod section.

A rotunda will be built to connect Cagayan de Oro’s third bridge to the remaining section of the project in the vicinity of the Philippine Ports Authority.

The DPWH said that, despite ongoing project status, its Gusa-Igpit section was opened to traffic in November 2017, traversing the local roads in the Agora section.

It caters passenger buses, cargo trucks and other heavy-loaded equipment to reduce traffic congestion in the city.