Heavy rains suspend Andaya Highway rehab

Legazpi City - Because of the heavy rains and flooding in the Bikol Region in the last days of October, highway works at the Andaya National Highway have been suspended for more than a week.
Field density tests are said to be required to determine whether the ground will allow the continuation of the concreting works in the road sections in Lupi and Del Gallego towns, all along the route of the Andaya Highway connecting Bikol to Quezon.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Bikol Director Orlando B. Roces bared that about P150-million more in budget releases will be implemented for the Highway-rehab until next year.Budget releases for the Andaya Highway have reached about P510-million, since Arroyo had pledged for the initial P250 million rehab-fund release in 2005, to address the deteriorated state of the Bikol route.According to DPWH, the P210-million budget was implemented in 2006 and another P300-million in funds were also released by the DBM in 2007.Roces said that although 91.16% of the 60-km. stretch of the Andaya Highway from Sipocot to Del Gallego, Cam. Sur have been completely repaired, the P150-million additional funds will be spent on the upgrading of the highway on sections not included in the previous rehab-program.Due to pressing directives from the President and DPWH Sec. Hermogenes Ebdane to conclude major repairs in the Andaya National Road by early next year, the DPWH Bikol director added that works would resume this monthMeanwhile, the DPWH regional office also reported that major clearing works were also done due to landslides that blocked major national roads in the region during the rains and floods.It was reported that heavy clearing works were done in the newly opened Catanduanes Circumferential Road requiring dynamite blasting to clear the road of huge boulders, while landslides have also caused several fatalities in barangay Agban late last month.Clearing works were also done in Sangay-Tiwi Road section, from Km. 497 in Barangay Bongalon to Albay boundary in km. 508 were several landslides have occurred. In Albay, the DPWH district is still working on the washed-out  Nagas detour bridge and the damaged approaches of Nagas bridge connecting the Legaspi-Tabacco-Tiwi, Road section.Massive landslides were also reported in the secondary national road sections in Presentacion-Maligaya Caramoan in Cam. Sur province.Roces had alerted district engineers in the region to closely monitor further land erosions along the national highways, due to rainy weather conditions in Bikol this month.