Measures to ease Baguio City traffic flow pushed

By Aileen P. Refuerzo

BAGUIO CITY – Various measures have been proposed to ease the traffic flow along Marcos Highway, Naguilian Road and other gateways to the city in face of Kennon Road’s prolonged inaccessibility.

These cropped up during the meeting conducted by the city council committee on public works chaired by councilor Mylen Yaranon last Jan. 25 on the heels of the city council decision to go for the improvement of these access routes through the installation of road markings and truck lanes in cooperation of truckers, public utility vehicle associations and barangay officials.

During the meeting, Baguio City Police Office Traffic Management Bureau head Chief Insp. Oliver Panabang presented the proposed traffic scheme which he said should be done in coordination with the adjacent towns like Tuba being the main concentration of vehicles going up to the city.

The plan includes the opening of Kadmangan in Poblacion to light vehicles while Sta. Lucia will also be opened from Badiwan as suggested by Tuba Mayor Ignacio Rivera.

To implement the truck lanes, he said there is a need for separator for bus lanes where the outer lanes will be for heavy trucks and the middle lane for light vehicles.

Construction companies were reminded to regularly flush the dirt from their mixers as this dirties the road and cause the slowdown of vehicles.

Panabang also asked barangay officials to help the city police sustain the implementation of the Anti-Road Obstruction measure.

As to the trucks’ staging areas, four areas were identified in Tuba particularly the ara near Badiwan,Poblacion Bridge, Bekis, Poblacion for tankers, Bayacsan, Taloy Sur, Realeza, taloy Sur and Bawek.

He suggested that the truck ban be temporarily suspended when mechanical defects occur.

He also broached the possibility of adjusting the entry of students to their classes from 7:00 am to 8:00 am and from 9:00 am to 10: 00 am.

He also discussed the traffic plans for the upcoming Panagbenga 2019 and other big events and suggested that truckers also adopt their own rerouting scheme during these activities.

Joseph Claridades presented his Ben Palispis Highway Quick Fix plan which centers on the use of truck, jeepney and bus lanes, safety barriers and concrete barriers to ease the flow of traffic and installation of public transportation stops further from the choke points, barricades and the use of the fly over.

Rodolfo Bulawan of the Benguet Truckers and Traders Association welcomed the idea of staging areas and committed their group’s cooperation.

Engineer Januario Borillo of the City Engineer’s Office said the Dept. of Public Works and Highways will implement the lane markings starting Jan. 30 and the barangay officials and the city police will be the main implementors.

All of the inputs will be reported out to the city council and will serve as basis for new legislations.