Road-sharing experiment to be made in Cebu City

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Motorists, bikers and pedestrians will try to share the use of at least four major thoroughfares in uptown Cebu City Sunday to test the viability of a road-sharing scheme being proposed by environmental and civil society groups.

A “half-road” policy would be implemented in portions of General Maxilom Avenue, Gorordo Avenue, Escario Street and Osmeña Boulevard near the Cebu Provincial Capitol and Fuente Osmeña Rotunda from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The four-hour experiment, the first in Cebu City, will cover at least 4 km.

Marc Canton, lead convenor of the Movement for Livable Cebu, said organizers would put ropes to delineate inner lanes that would be used by pedestrians, cyclists and skateboarders.

The outer lanes on both sides of the four-lane roads would be for motorists.

“This is a concept that will try to solve urban problems,” said architect Joseph Michael Espina, one of the organizers.

The experiment is part of an initiative called the “Cebu Green Loop Plan” started by civil society and environmental groups in Cebu that envisions a well-planned urban growth in Metro Cebu.