A NEW four-lane highway with a steel bridge in mid-stretch is set to be opened in Dagupan City by March next year, six months ahead of schedule, according to House Speaker Jose de Vencia Jr.
The new road which will skirt the downtown area of Dagupan measures 4,157 kilometers and costs P286.7 million, coming from the regular budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways and de Venecia’s Priority Development Assistance Fund.

The project was initiated by de Venecia in order to unclog the unusually heavy traffic in the city’s downtown area, especially during rush hours.

Department of Public Works and Highways Regional Director Fidel Ginez assured De Venecia that the project can be already opened to motorist traffic by March.

De Venecia inspected the project on Saturday along with Mayor Alipio Fernandez and Vice Mayor Belen Fernandez.

Built atop fishponds, swamps and rivers, the project has taken some four years to build as it depended on the yearly appropriations of the DPWH and de Venecia’s PDAF.

Once completed, it will become an alternative road from the town of San Fabian to the Lingayen capital, without motorists passing the downtown area of Dagupan anymore.

The new road is already set for completion by the end of this month with the bridge component, being constructed by Toyo Construction of Japan, set to be finished by March.

The bridge is 380 meters long and is being funded by a P996 million soft loan of the Philippine government from the Japanese government through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.

He said President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who backed the project since the very start, is set to inaugurate the new infrastructures.

In a talk to barangay and city officials he swore to office on Sunday, de Venecia said the city of Dagupan is lucky because with the new road, a new place for investments possibly for eco-tourism, is about to be established.

The road extends from sitio Dawel in barangay Pantal to Pantal proper and then to barangay Lucao, across the Pantal river.

The Speaker asked the city officials to develop both sides of the new highway as the city’s new economic zone since the owntown area is now crowded with establishments.