TUBA, Benguet July 20 – The landslide-affected portion of the Palispis-Aspiras highway otherwise known as the Marcos highway at sitio Poyopoy, Taloy Sur here was opened to two-way vehicular traffic by the Cordillera office of the Department of Public works and Highways (DPWH-CAR) following over 20 hours of continuous clearing operations by combined units of heavy equipment commissioned by the agency in order to clear the over 100-meter long landslide with a height of over 6 meters that blocked the roadline.
Engr. Edilberto Carabbacan, DPWH-CAR regional director and Engr. Nelia Antonio, chief of the DPWH-CAR maintenance division, supervised the clearing operations from the punch through at around 10:30 am Sunday up to the opening of the road to two-way vehicular traffic at around 2 am Monday.
Carabbacan expressed his gratitude to all the stakeholders who contributed in the immediate punch through and subsequent opening of the roadline to vehicular traffic considering that it is the only all-weather road to and from the Cordillera.
It can be recalled that huge boulders and debris fell from the mountain side at around 7 am blocking both lanes of the road in sitio Poyopoy Sunday that caused the temporarily closure of the road to vehicular traffic.
Because of the consolidated efforts of contractors, the road was opened to one-way vehicular traffic at around 10:30 am that allowed the reduction of heavy traffic along the road with flagmen assisting in traffic management.
Previously, Marcos was designed by Japanese engineers to be the all-weather access road to and from Baguio City with the implementation of over P1.2 billion foreign-assisted projects in 1998.
