A better road, a greener life

In the 1990 movie “Back to the Future III,” time-traveling scientist Emmett Brown told a bunch of old-timer cowboys in a bar in 1885 what the future would look like.

He said people would move from one place to another on automobiles. One crusty cowboy muttered, “What, people won’t walk anymore?”

To which Brown replied, “No, people will still walk. But they would do so for exercise, for fun.”

“Walking for fun?” the cowboy exclaimed incredulously, drawing laughter in the saloon.

If only he saw Cebu City’s “Road Revolution” along Osmeña Boulevard on Independence Day, the cowboys wouldn’t be laughing. Most likely, they’d talk about whether it’s possible for humanity to move from one place to another without polluting the environment.

On June 12, a solar-powered tram invented by a Cebuano engineer carried passengers for a test drive. Bicycles in all shapes and sizes appeared. Teenagers and kids zipped by on skateboards. A Zumba instructor held a dance class across Fuente Osmeña with street children joning the fun. Families strolled about. An eco-stall sold fresh malunggay-mango juice.

Yes, people were actually walking down the street in long strides. Last Sunday’s experiment of a no-car boulevard was an eye-opener.

You could stand on Cebu City’s largest boulevard and breathe lungsful of clear air as you watched a community relax together in an instant park.

How the idea flies in the real world, on a more permanent basis, remains to be seen.

We thoroughly support ecology lawyer Antonio Oposa Jr.’s conviction that the government should give the streets back to the people.

Turning a section of the city into a promenade on Sundays is a wonderful gift to all citizens.

It may not be the whole length of Osmeña Boulevard at once; it could start with the heritage-rich city center of Parian, where museums, churches and flea markets would make a fascinating walking tour.

Sidewalks overrun with vendors and extended houses or stores are the bane of city life. Cars get bigger, belch more and have multiplied beyond the capacity of Cebu City’s still narrow roads.

“Those with less in wheels must have more in road” is the witty slogan of the movement Oposa has jumpstarted to press the government for a better deal for the majority of citizens.

The Road Revolution, in a petition still attracting signatories, seeks to redesign roads this way: 30 percent for sidewalks and pathways, 30 percent for bicycle lanes, 30 percent for a mass transport system that is Filipino-made and non-pollutive and 10 percent for a greenbelt of edible gardens.

This sounds like utopia, but many cities in Europe and the United States include bike lanes and wide sidewalks as a basic element.

The struggle for Cebu City is one against convenience and the tyranny of the “haves.” It’s more convenient to have jeepneys or taxis rule the street, no matter if their fumes choke passengers and pedestrians alike. It’s the questionable birthright of well-to-do families to collect sports utility vehicles unmindful of fuel economy and traffic congestion.

A lifestyle choice is what the Road Revolution confronts us with.

Do we want to continue living in a city where the chaos of the streets chokes the health and very life out of its inhabitants?

If we don’t turn around now, then when?