Road repairs, traffic jams greet Baguio

BAGUIO CITY—Heavy traffic welcomed residents and motorists in the summer capital this week when a government contractor drilled holes into a well paved stretch of Marcos Highway to prepare this major route to Metro Manila for repavement.

True to its word, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) started in January the continuation of its national road program, which requires contractors to install new pavements and wider drainage lines for roads maintained by the national government, said Ireneo Gallato, district engineer.

“We received the P211 million allocated for Baguio last week so we can start right away,” he said.

This year, Gallato said he had scheduled the latest set of national road reblocking projects as the city prepares to celebrate major events to welcome tourists: the Baguio Flower Festival and Philippine Military Academy (PMA) homecoming in February, the graduation ceremonies for PMA and other universities here in March, and the Holy Week in April.

The city’s peak tourist season begins in December and tapers off by in May.

But motorists again complained because the contractor dug both sides of a 1.378-kilometer stretch of Marcos Highway leading to the city proper.

Buses and motorists leaving and entering Baguio would have to stop for 30 to 40 minutes along that stretch of the highway because of the road construction.

Truck accident

A truck traveling on the damaged stretch ended up on its side on Saturday when its driver lost control of the vehicle and hit a pedestrian. The victim, Mario Doco, 48, a carpenter, died.

Five days after the Marcos Highway section was dug up, the contractor laid out 120 meters of concrete, “making us hopeful that the firm could complete its contract before the end of February,” Gallato said.

The P20-million Marcos Highway contract covers the second week of January to the first week of May, a work chart provided by DPWH showed.

Motorists have been braced for horrendous traffic jams in major roads. Residents said the repairs were started without the DPWH giving the details of the project and alternative routes to ease inconvenience.

Aside from the Marcos Highway contract, the Baguio engineering district has scheduled 17 other national road projects between January and July, Gallato said.

Flower festival

He said he was aware that many tourists visit Baguio in February to watch the annual Panagbenga street dancing and float parades. “So I coordinated with the traffic police, the city government and the contractors to make sure that road projects began early would be open to traffic by the end of February,” he said.

Many of the new road projects are in the central business district, but these have been programmed to start after the flower festival.

For example, the P3.6-million reblocking and concrete overlay contract for Abanao Road here will start in the third week of January and end in the second week of February.

But the P4.6-million drainage repairs for Abanao Road Extension will take place from the second week of March to the third week of April.

The P30-million concreting contract for Governor Pack Road (traversing SM City Baguio, the Baguio Convention Center and University of the Philippines Baguio starts in the first week of March and will end in the last week of June.

Concreting work on Chanum Street, near Burnham Park, will start in March and end in the third week of May, while the P28-million concreting of Kisad Road behind the park will start in the last week of March and end in the last week of June.

DPWH contractors will upgrade the pavement of a road near the PMA in April, while another 1.15 km of Naguilian Road will be repaved from March to May in a P20-million contract. Naguilian Road was closed for months toward the end of 2011 for rehabilitation work.

The DPWH has contracted out the asphalt overlay of five roads, including Leonard Wood Road (which leads to the Baguio Botanical Garden, the Mansion, Wright Park and Mines View Park) from the third week of January to the second week of February, and Harrison Road (fronting Burnham Park) from the third week of January to the end of February.