MANILA, Philippines – Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon announced on Monday that the Culiat Bridge II in Quezon City has been opened to light vehicles, two weeks after it was damaged by fire.
Dizon and Mayor Joy Belmonte inspected the area along Congressional Avenue in Barangay Bahay Toro where they also witnessed the load test before declaring the eastbound and westbound lanes of the bridge open only for light vehicles.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) chief immediately ordered the temporary closure of the bridge after the July 11 fire which originated from a one-story home and destroyed 46 houses built by an informal settler community underneath the bridge.
Belmonte, who expressed gratitude on Dizon’s quick action, said at least 38 families, that were found to be living under the bridge, were already housed at temporary shelters in Barangay Batasan Hills.
“The local government has also been relocating other families living in other bridges across the city to their permanent in-city homes,” Belmonte said.
“We would just make sure that these bridges and other danger zones must be off limits at all times so that the fire under Culiat bridge would no longer be repeated in other similar structures,” the city chief executive said.
On orders from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the DPWH to conduct technical assessment of the damaged bridge, Dizon said the agency immediately implemented temporary repairs on the buckled and raised portions of the bridge's asphalt while a technical team conducts a comprehensive study on the structure's full rehabilitation.
Both Dizon and Belmonte were confident that Culiat Bridge II would be fully open for all types of vehicles in the next two to three weeks.
