While a debate swirls in Cebu City\u00a0 over the wisdom of building\u00a0 two new flyovers and how to plan a \u201cliveable city,\u201d Davao City has wrapped up a wide-ranging study for urban transportation.<\/p>\n
The study was done by a consultancy firm of Dr. Primitivo Cal, the Cebuano urban planner whom\u00a0 some local businessmen hope to tap to update a\u00a0 transportation master plan for Metro Cebu up to 2030.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavao is already ahead of us in making its master plan,\u201d lamented businessman Bunny Pages, in a meeting earlier this week with a newly formed citizens movement called \u201cStop Cebu Flyovers.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Davao study was done December\u00a0 2010 to May 2011 by the Manila-based Transport Traffic Planner Inc. (TTPI) for its client, the Asian Development Bank through Almec Corp., according to the firm’s website.\u00a0 Cal is an associate of the firm<\/p>\n
Pages said he is in touch with Cal and exploring how to get the civil engineer-cum-lawyer, who was one of the pioneers of the Metro Cebu Land Use and Transport Study (MCLUTS) made 33 years ago, to return and update the only baseline study of the metropolis.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Joel Lee, coordinator of the \u201cStop Cebu Flyovers\u201d movement, said the clamor to find experts to solve urban growth problems should not\u00a0 overlook the views of citizens who know what they want in a \u201cliveable\u201d city.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we accept this clamor and so-called \u2018experts\u2019 without much thought, we will soon end up again with many other mega projects built supposedly for us at great cost, but which may not provide us with what we really need or want to have for our community,\u201d he said in\u00a0 a letter to the editor.<\/p>\n
\u201cI dare say that we, the very residents of Cebu, have to be the very consultants we seek. We understand well what we need and want for Cebu: true useable sidewalks, dedicated bike lanes, mass transit on the road, water-based mass transit via the Mactan Channel, more open green spaces, cleaner air, less congestion, better commutes, greater interaction between people, safety for children and persons with disability, pocket forests, nature-based recreational areas and so on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the elements of the city we want to have and live in, work in, and enjoy quality life in have been clearly specified, we can then commission the so-called \u2019experts.\u2019\u201d (Read full letter in Opinion page 10.)<\/p>\n
Rep. Cutie del Mar of Cebu City’s north district recently wrote to President Aquino urging him not to listen to critics out to stop the two flyovers worth P600 million because\u00a0 \u201cmore people and groups support the two flyovers than those who oppose them.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said the usefulness of flyovers to ease traffic \u201chas been proven\u201d and that\u00a0 Cebu City cannot wait for an updated\u00a0 master plan or road widening, which would cost a lot of money and take a long time.<\/p>\n
Last Thursday, the Cebu City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) Board passed a resolution rejecting the two proposed flyovers as \u201cextremely inefficient\u201d and \u201cthe wrong solution to the wrong problem.\u201d\u00a0 It also warned of new traffic hazards posed to motorists and pedestrians if the projects push through.<\/p>\n
Dr. Cal, in an e-mail to Pages, said he is not recommending a study like Davao for Cebu.<\/p>\n
He suggested a study similar to MCLUTS\u00a0 that would have a Land Use and Transportation Strategy Plan for Metro Cebu up to year 2030.<\/p>\n
The planning horizon of 2030 would dovetail with the national government’s National Framework for Physical Planning to year 2030, he explained.<\/p>\n
The master plan\u00a0 would serve as the framework of policies, guidelines, projects and programs to meet short-, medium- and long-term travel needs.<\/p>\n
He said the issue of flyovers would be tackled in the\u00a0\u00a0 third objective\u2014identifying projects that would immediately ease existing critical transport and traffic problems.<\/p>\n
Since mayors and local chief executives have a three-year term of office, they would be more interested in seeing immediate results, Cal said. But it is the output of the strategic planning that would guide long-term development.<\/p>\n
The estimated P25-million cost of a full-blown master plan poses a big challenge.\u00a0 Pages said he hopes this can be obtained by realigning part of the P600-million cost of two new flyovers by the Dept. of Public Works and Highways, and support from the Cebu City government.<\/p>\n
If the government won’t fund the study, Pages said contributions could be raised from the private sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea is to raise money through a wide coalition if the government would not fund it,\u201d he told Cebu Daily 黑料社.<\/p>\n
Pages said updating the Metro Cebu transportation\u00a0 master plan would only take about a year since Cal is familiar with the MCLUTS and the situation in Cebu.<\/p>\n
According to the TTPI website, the Davao study aimed to provide a \u201cstrategic vision\u201d for an integrated and sustainable urban transport system in Davao and\u00a0 a framework for feasibility studies of possible transport solutions, including a mass transit system, nonmotorized trasnport facilities, road widening and flyovers.<\/p>\n
TTPI specializes in transportation and traffic planning.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, engineer Nonato Paylado, assistant chief for Planning and Design Division of the DPWH-7, said his\u00a0 office is open to suggestions on how to do a\u00a0 transport master plan for Cebu City, but said there was a more immediate priority to meet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are obligated to address the needs of the public immediately. If we wait for the master plan, that would take a long time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Paylado said that if the private sector is interested in doing a master plan, they can lead it while DPWH would just be a member. He said the two flyover projects at the juncture of Gorordo Avenue and MJ Cuenco Avenue in Cebu City are \u201cvery well studied.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our flyover projects are supported with traffic data,\u201d Paylado he said.<\/p>\n
DPWH-7 gathered traffic data last August over a three-day period with a 24-hour count of the number of vehicles, which pass in the location of the proposed flyovers.<\/p>\n
The agency noted traffic volume and the type of vehicles that pass the area to be able to forecast trends of of normal traffic and the actual traffic cost if the project would be implemented.\u00a0 Paylado said that they also surveyed the structures that will be affected by the flyovers and road alignments.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the necessary data gathering was done to prove that the project is well studied,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
They didn’t include the time interval when traveling along the area before and after the projects are implemented.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not focus on that because it is not necessary,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said that even with flyovers in Cebu, traffic congestion would not be solved without good traffic management.<\/p>\n
Earlier, Citom head Rafael Yap said the DPWH study whose results were reported in a public forum last month\u00a0 was \u201cincomplete\u201d and \u201cflawed,\u201d as it didn’t consider the impact in other intersections.<\/p>\n
Yap said the data was insufficient basis to make conclusions about the need to build new flyovers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While a debate swirls in Cebu City\u00a0 over the wisdom of building\u00a0 two new flyovers and how to plan a \u201cliveable city,\u201d Davao City has wrapped up a wide-ranging study for urban transportation. The study was done by a consultancy firm of Dr. Primitivo Cal, the Cebuano urban planner whom\u00a0 some local businessmen hope to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1242,1227],"tags":[12441],"byline":[1269],"source":[206068],"column":[],"editor":[],"videographer":[],"position":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n