TYPHOON HAZARD ANALYSIS OF THE CEBU-CORDOVA LINK EXPRESSWAY ACROSS MACTAN CHANNEL

Abstract

The Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX) is an inter-island bridge that links Cebu City to Mactan Island through the municipality of Cordova. The 8.9-km-long structure spans from the Cebu South Coastal Road (CSCR), crosses the Mactan Channel and Mactan Reef Flat, then connects to a causeway in Barangay Pilipog in Cordova. It is the longest and tallest bridge in the Philippines as of 2022. The channel is approximately 12-km-long strait bound to the northwest by Cebu Island and to the southeast by Mactan Island. Both ends of the channel are approximately 0.5 km wide. Adjacent to the southwest end of the channel is the Mactan Reef Flat. It is a 3,000-hectare expanse of mangroves, corals, and seagrass. CCLEX, with its local features, consisting of causeways, viaducts, pylons with pile foundations, piers, bridges, tidal inlets, and a toll plaza, is found to have affected the wave climate within the Mactan Channel and Mactan Reef Flat during extreme typhoons. This paper presents the analyses and synthesis of the effects of the CCLEX substructure on the extreme hazards of storm tide and typhoon waves of typhoons that tracked Mactan Channel.