By Sarwell Meniano/PNA
TACLOBAN CITY — The Regional Project Monitoring Committee (RPMC) has asked the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to correct the designs of diversion and bypass roads with steep slopes to ensure the safety of motorists.
National Economic and Development Authority Regional Director Meylene Rosales and RPMC acting chair said the newly-formed technical working group (TWG) has begun inspecting bypass roads identified as accident-prone.
“The TWG has already made some recommendations and we hope the DPWH would consider redesigning these road networks under the proposed 2020 budget. This activity is urgent because we’re talking of saving of lives here,” Rosales said Wednesday.
The RPMC, the project monitoring arm of the Regional Development Council (RDC) formed the TWG last December to re-examine diversion and bypass roads.
These roads checked by RPMC members and team from DPWH are the Baybay diversion road in Leyte; Catbalogan diversion road in Samar; alternative road that links Tigbao (a village in Tacloban City) and Sta. Fe, Leyte; Ormoc diversion road in Leyte; and the road leading to Malaguicay Falls in Abuyog, Leyte.
The committee found the Ormoc diversion road, Baybay diversion road, and the Tigbao-Sta. Fe Bypass Road to have slopes that are steeper than the allowable slope of 8 percent in their segments.
Both the road in Ormoc City and the road leading to Malaguicay Falls have a tight horizontal curve that would be difficult for long vehicles to manage.
Among the recommendations of the team are to downgrade the slope, redesign to safely accommodate trucks, and for the DPWH to strictly comply with its manual on highway safety design standard.
According to the DPWH, there are already plans to improve the design for the Baybay diversion road in 2020 while the alternative road in Ormoc has road right-of-way issues that should be resolved with landowners. Redesigning the road to Sta. Fe town and Malaguicay Falls will be considered in the future.
In a report, the RDC said “the use of these roads meant to decongest traffic in urban centers, is not maximized and worst, it only adds up to the numerous accident-prone areas of the road network in the region.”
The RDC believes that the recommended course of action will not only enhance mobility but also ensure the safety and security of passengers and cargoes through land transport, as espoused in the Eastern Visayas Regional Development Plan 2017-2022, and in line with the 0 to 10 Point Socioeconomic Agenda of the Duterte administration.
