Traffic lights for Kalibo soon, Rotonda Sarok removal seen to ease traffic

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

The local government of Kalibo will soon install traffic lights on the busy streets to ease heavy traffic.

Bidding for installation and construction of traffic lights, through the General Fund, amounting to P1.995 million is ongoing.

Kalibo mayor William Lachica said the traffic lights will be placed at Crossing Banga and New Washington, D. Maagma corner Osmena Avenue and Jaime Cardinal Sin Avenue and Toting Reyes Street corner Roxas Avenue. 

Crossing Banga-New Washington is one of the busiest streets in Kalibo, according to Sangguniang Bayan member Augusto Tolentino, also the committee chairman on transportation.

The road is also taken by vehicles going to and from Kalibo International Airport, towns in the eastern side of Aklan and the provinces of Iloilo and Capiz.

Tolentino said a public hearing is scheduled on July 3 to consider the removal of the “Rotanda Sarok” located in the intersection of Osmena Avenue-Toting Reyes Street-Desposorio Maagma-Jaime Cardinal Sin Avenue which is blamed for the worsening traffic situation in the area.

The high volume of trucks, private vehicles, motorists and tourist buses plying the Crossing area is causing bottleneck due to obstructions in the area, he added.

Tolentino said “Rotanda Sarok” is a local site in Kalibo but it has no historical value or an important cultural significance. 

However, conservationists are calling the project unnecessary; instead, they said the local police should discipline the traffic enforcers and erring drivers and remove illegally parked vehicles in the area to ease traffic woes.