Dumaguete City Engineer Edwin Quirit has stood by the City Engineer's Office practice of closing roads that are being concreted instead of leaving one lane open for traffic.

In a letter to Dumaguete City Administrator Dominador Dumalag Jr., Quirit said they have to close the entire road section in order to protect the general public and the motorists from being accidentally hit by their heavy equipment operating in the area, and at the same time attain a maximum quality of work.

Quirit was reacting to a resolution from the Dumaguete City Traffic Management Task Force requesting the CEO to allow vehicles to pass on one lane even while the cementing of the road was going on, as practiced by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

In its resolution, the CTMTF said motorists are inconvenienced by having to take a detour each time a road is concreted by the CEO.

Quirit, however, said that the practice of the CEO is to excavate the existing road to a desired depth and replace the excavated materials with suitable aggregate materials and cement, resulting in a higher road that is at the level of the existing sidewalk.

"If we allow motorists to pass on the one lane as suggested by the resolution. It will create delays in project implementation and possible accidents," Quirit said.

He pointed out an instance where laborers were sideswiped by passing motorists during the concreting of the Jose Romero Sr. road.

In another road project, an accident occurred even when the road was totally closed to motorists after the driver of a motorcycle forcefully entered the working area. The motorcycle was accidentally crushed by the payloader although the motorcycle driver was unhurt.

Quirit said the CEO does its work differently from the DPWH, which allows for the passage of traffic on one lane. He appealed to the public to bear with his office and "exert a little sacrifice of the inconvenience" in exchange for a road that the city can be proud and boast of.*AP

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