Closure of Baguio’s Session Road to vehicles mulled

Julie G. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY – The pedestrianization of Session road is under thorough study, as to business and traffic concerns, Mayor Mauricio Domogan clarified last week during the regular media Ugnayan at city hall.

Responding to a query, the mayor said the city’s main road’s pedestrianization has long been proposed at the council due to environmental, particularly air pollution issues, but opposed by the business community in the area.

The move was initiated in the city council sometime in the 90s and again in 2009 but was brushed aside due to “cleanliness, sewerage, security and safety,” issues. 

If pedestrianization pushes through, the city’s main street shall be “vehicle-less,” it was known, with coffee tables and chairs interspersed with ornamental and green areas. Session road as a walking park is also being considered. Another suggestion is its being car-less during holidays and weekdays, it was known.  

 Alternative routes including the circumferential road are being considered, however, with studies being done by the Transport and Traffic Management Committee (TTMC) and the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for tramline and monorail system. The routes are seen to skip the central business district (CBD), travel towards the outskirts of the city; but to tourist destinations within Benguet province and beyond.

The proposed pedestrianization is been pushed due to a World Health Organization (WHO) report which earlier tagged the city as having the “most polluted air in the country.”              

We are doing everything and working with different agencies, the Roadside Testing and Monitoring Team (RTMT), anti-smoking ordinance, the National Greening Program (NGP) to ensure the decrease of air pollution in the city, the mayor earlier said.

Less exhaust is expected with properly-maintained vehicles, while more trees planted as to the NGP assures us of purer air, the mayor has said during the Alay Sa Kalinisan (ASK) meetings. 

            The city has also conducted meetings with the Baguio-La Trinidad-Itogon-Sablan-Tuba-Tublay (BLISTT) airshed committee for programs to minimize air pollution in the area.