DPWH mulls one-way traffic on Kennon Road this summer

MANILA, Philippines–After the horrendous traffic jams vacationers experienced on Kennon Road in December on the way up to Baguio City, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is thinking of implementing one-way traffic on the winding road this summer, particularly on Holy Week, to “prevent a recurrence of the severe vehicular congestion.”

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson has directed the DPWH’s office in the Cordillera Administrative Region to conduct a study of the traffic on the 41-kilometer road, the main artery to the cool summer capital from the lowlands.

Singson in a statement said the problem was “some road repairs and maintenance works” on the 110-year-old road which was opened to traffic in January 1905.

“A one-way traffic flow on Kennon Road is also expected to lessen vehicular accidents as motorists negotiate the steep and winding climb,” he said.

Singson said the “Marcos Highway, the other access road leading to Baguio, will remain open to two-way traffic as it is also the route used by buses and trucks.”

For his part, DPWH-CAR Director Edilberto Carabbacan said that while the proposal to implement one-way traffic on Kennon Road was still being studied, “the 10-ton weight limit for vehicles is being strictly implemented to safeguard the weak bridge at Camp 5.”

“Trucks loaded with vegetables or gravel and sand from La Union and Camp 4 to Baguio and vice versa are restricted from using Kennon Road. Instead, they are advised to take Marcos Highway,” he said.

Camps 4 and 5 are among the eight settlements along Kennon Road. They were originally established for the road builders in 1903.

The steepest portion of Kennon, between Camps 6 and 7, is known as the “zigzag” because of the numerous switchbacks.

Initially called Benguet Road, the pine tree-lined route was renamed in honor of its builder, Col. Lyman Walter Kennon of the US Army Corps of Engineers.

In the DPWH’s one-way plan, only light vehicles would be allowed to use Kennon Road to go up to Baguio this summer.–Jerry E. Esplanada