Alternate road begins construction in Lagawe

By Dan B. Codamon

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- With the sad experience of being isolated due to the absence of an alternate road when the main road is closed due to calamities, the municipal government of this town with the help of the provincial government started opening an alternate road here.

This, after typhoons “Pedring” and “Quiel” devastated Ifugao and caused the collapse of the bridge along the national road at Barangay Dugong stranding many passengers and making travel going to this capital town very difficult.

Government and private employees working at the center town had to cross an improvised bamboo bridge spanning a 30 meters wide river then walk more than one kilometer to reach the other side of the road to ride waiting tricycles to bring them to their destinations.

Prices of goods and other basic commodities have also increased because of the cost and difficulty of transporting them.

The alternate road is more than two kilometers which begins from Barangay Tungngod near Dugong where the bridge had fallen and ends up to join the provincial road at Barangay Boliwong leading to the center Barangay of Poblacion that takes five minutes ride.

If finished, this will be the best and shortest alternative road going to Lagawe from Lamut, Kiangan and the nearby provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela. The other alternate route is the long, circuitous, narrow-laned and rugged road passing through Baguinge, Poblacion, Pindongan and Munggayang barangays of Kiangan.