by Gregorio Deligero and Lorie Ann A. Cascaro
These structures are meant to allow pedestrians safe crossing over busy roads without impacting on vehicular traffic. Yet, not all pedestrian overpasses serve their intended purpose: many are underutilized; some are hardly used at all.
Observations made by Edge Davao on selected overpasses in the city showed that most pedestrians still cross the streets at portions where there are no pedestrian lanes, ignoring overpasses.
According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), there are 15 overpasses in Davao City, three of which were funded by the city government—fronting along Victoria Plaza Mall in Bajada, at the University of Mindanao-Matina Campus and one near the Mabini Elementary School in Bangkal.
The other 12 were funded by the national government. These are the located at the Matina Crossing (McArthur Highway), Gaisano Mall in Bajada, Bankerohan, Southern Philippines Medical Center in Bajada, DAMOSA, Bunawan, Lasang, Sasa, Quimpo Boulevard, Toril, and La Verna in Buhangin (diversion road).
Utilization
In a faxed reply to Edge Davao’s questionnaire, DPWH district engineer Lorna T. Ricardo said the average utilization percentage of overpass pedestrians is 50% to 80% of the total pedestrians in the area.
The three most utilized overpasses are in Bankerohan, Quimpo Boulevard and Gaisano Mall.
According to DPWH staff May Canuday, who answered additional queries addressed to Ricardo, the Bankerohan overpass has a 100% utilization rate “because pedestrians have no choice,” referring to the steel barriers put up in the middle the street to discourage jaywalking.
She said the least utilized are in Tibungco, Lasang and Bunawan because “dili kaayo busy ang street although it is a national highway.”
Desiderio Cloribel, chief of the Traffic Management Center (TMC), echoed the same observation. He said the reason the Tibungco overpass in not utilized is “because its location is not appropriate.”
“Malayo sa maraming tao, not even churchgoers pass there. To fully utilize it steel barriers grills should be put either in the middle of the street or along the sidewalk,” he said. Another overpass located in Lasang is seldom used, if ever, because “gamay lang ang mga tao, only less than 8,000 ang population doon.”
The city government, through the TMC, is mandated to make sure that overpasses are utilized.
The first overpass in Davao City was put up in Bankerohan in 1994 at a cost of P4.5 million while the latest is located in La Verna which was constructed only last year in the amount of P11 million, making it the most expensive, with the DPWH attributing it to the increase in prices of construction materials at the time.
Overpasses at Damosa, Sasa, Lasang, Bunawan and Tibungo were the cheapest because of their short spans—two lanes—compared to the four lanes for the other overpasses. They cost an average of P5 million each.
The purpose
Overpasses in the city—or elsewhere in the country and the world—have one common purpose: provide a means for safe crossing by pedestrians and at the same time decongesting traffic below.
“If fully utilized, overpasses will decongest traffic and minimize vehicular accidents,” said Cloribel.
For instance, two weeks before Christmas 2010, he said that the Matina Crossing overpass was utilized by 60% of pedestrians after temporary steel barriers (harang) were placed along the island fronting the Mercury Drugstore.
“Traffic congestion can be lessened if only road worthy vehicles and responsible drivers are allowed to use the roads. People are using overpasses now, but some remain irresponsible, crossing just anywhere they please.”
Last December 21, five Edge Davao staff made a one-hour observation each on seven overpasses: Bangkal, Matina Crossing, UM Matina, Bankerohan, near Almendras Gym, Victoria Plaza and the Southern Philippines Medical Center.
Of the seven, the least utilitilized—if utilized, at all—was the uncovered flyover in Bangkal, which nobody used during the observation being made. A factor could be the absence of schoolchildren at the Mabini Elementary School as it was a school break.
But Franklin Libarios, 44, a resident in nearby Flores Village, said the structure is barely utilized “because the road is easy to cross at any point because of light vehicular traffic aside from the fact that it has no roof.”
Still, the structure still serves some other purpose, albeit in different way.
“The children crossing the road use shadow of the flyover as cover from the scorching heat of the sun,” he said in jest.
The most utilized flyovers are those that are located at the Matina Crossing and Bankerohan, with 1,336 and 1,562 crossers, respectively, during the one hour observation. The pedestrians counted were those who actually crossed in either direction.
No single jaywalker was noted at Matina Crossing because of the newly-put up steel barriers. However, in Bankerohan 186 jaywalkers were recorded crossing the street in front of the Metrobank building going to and coming from the market.
The highest number of jaywalkers was recorded just off the overpass located near the Almendras Gym. A total of 566 pedestrians used the structure but another 202 were jaywalkers, ironically including a man wearing a TMC uniform. As the observation was made between 8-9 p.m., more than half of the jaywalkers were going home to the Bucana area.
More jaywalkers were also noted just off the Victoria Plaza overpass than those who used the structure. At the SPMC area, no jaywalker was noticed, apparently due to the wide span of the road, the heavy vehicular traffic, and the presence of steel barriers in middle of the road.
Reasons
Jaywalkers randomly interviewed by Edge Davao cited the ease of using the road instead of the overpass as the most common reason why they opted in not using the overpass.
“It’s so tiring to ascend and descend the flyover,” said a middle-aged woman who asked not to be named.
Other reasons cited are the unsanitary condition, particularly of the Victoria Plaza overpass and the presence of vendors thereat who constrict the overpasses, particularly in Bankerohan.
Lawyer Joey Felizarta, officer-in-charge of the City Environment and Natural Resources Office (CENRO), admitted that the agency has the mandate to maintain the cleanliness of the overpasses, but it is only done once a month because they rely on the availability of pressurized hoses from the 911 auxiliary fire unit in cleaning the structures.
He said the barangays, through their tanods, should closely monitor the overpasses.
“D’yan kasi nagta— at nag-iihi ang iba,” he said.
Recommendations
Councilor Pilar C. Braga, chair of the city council committee on energy, communication and transportation, said that to fully maximize the use of the overpasses, “they should be strategically located.”
“Pedestrians should also be disciplined enough to use them. But then again the barangays should also take responsibility to maintain and make sure that these overpasses are clean and safe,” she said.
Braga noted that Davao City today has all the high tech traffic signals, expensive road signs for pedestrians, pavement markings and pedestrians overpass but “we always see people jaywalking and our traffic enforcers are not apprehending or even reprimanding them.”
“Try observing people in the streets, they seem to be ignorant of white lines on the corners of the street. You see college students crossing despite the “do not walk” (steady red hand) signal on our traffic signals,” she said.
“Aren’t they supposed to be educated? Despite the millions spent on pedestrian overpass constructions, people still prefer to flirt with danger by dodging speeding cars while crossing under the overpasses,” Braga added.
