DPWH-7 to install warning signs on Mandaue City skywalks to address safety concerns
Part of M.C. Briones Street in Maguikay, Mandaue City was closed to vehicular traffic due to a damaged skywalk. CDN Digital photo | CDND file photo
MANDAUE CITY, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways in Central Visayas (DPWH-7) is expected to install appropriate signages on all skywalks in Mandaue City, to especially indicate its heights, in order to warn big trucks passing in the area.
DPWH-7 officials thought of this as a measure to prevent accidents and the possible damage of other skywalks in the city.
Engineer Daisy Toledo, head of the 6th Engineering District of DPWH-7, said that the recently demolished skywalk along M. C. Briones Street in Barangay Maguikay was damaged after it was rammed by two different trucks last March 6 and 29.
Toledo dismissed speculations that the project was substandard, the reason for its defects.
DPWH-7 officials led by Engineer Daisy Toledo attended the session of the Mandaue City Council on Wednesday, April 12. | Mary Rose Sagarino
Maguikay Skywalk
The skywalk in was built in 2006 using the congressional funds of former 6th district representative and now Mandaue City Councilor Nerissa Soon-Ruiz.
“2006 na build but karun ra na rammed. If that is true [that the project was substandard], then logic would tell us that daghan na unta’ng nasangit [sa flyover]. Admittedly the driver, the operator of that van admitted nga iyahang fault because kahibaw siya nga over ang iyaha’ng height,” Toledo told members of the Mandaue City Council.
Toledo and other DPWH-7 officials were invited to attend the council session on Wednesday, April 12, to brief members of the legislative body as to the reason why the Maguikay skywalk was damaged.
Arnold Malig-on, operations head of the Traffic Enforcement Agency of Mandaue (TEAM), was also present during the session.
Toledo said that the driver of the first truck that rammed into the skywalk was already arrested. But the driver of the second truck remains at large and is yet to be identified.
A closer look at the damaged skywalk in Brgy. Maguikay, Mandaue City. CDN Digital photo | Brian J. Ochoa
Asphalt Overlays
Aside from the recklessness of the two drivers and the height of their trucks, some Council members shared their views that asphalt overlays that DPWH-7 did in that part of the national highway, may have also contributed to the defects on the Maguikay skywalk.
The presence of thick asphalt in the area may have been a contributing factor as to why the two trucks rammed into the flyover.
“Once nga muingun ta nga overlay mupasaka gyud ta….. mu mubo ang verticle clearance if sige og pasaka (overlay),” said Vice Mayor Glenn Bercede.
“Sa Maguikay skywalk sauna, makaagi man ang mga trailer but tugod sa sige og overlay, overlay karun masangyad na sila,” added Councilor Jimmy Lumapas, chairman of the City Council’s Committee on Transportation.
“Most likely nagsaka gyud siya kay sauna ig sulod namo sa amoa balay, even ra [ang dan] pero karun mura mi og nagnaog gikan sa highway. This is a national road sa Basak Mandaue,” commented Councilor Immaline Cortes-Zafra.
Only two concrete stairways are what are left of a skywalk that once stood along MC Briones Street in Barangay Maguikay. | Mandaue City PIO photo
Pavement Management System
Toledo said that all DPWH-funded road repairs are done in accordance with their Pavement Management System.
Overhead structures like skywalks are being considered prior to the conduct of asphalt overlays, she added.
Still, Council members insisted on the need to take precautionary measures to prevent the damage of another skywalk in the city.
They asked DPWH officials led by Toledo to make sure that signages that would indicate the height of the structure are installed on all skywalks here.
According to Toledo old skywalks have a height of 4.2 meters while those build in 2016 and onwards have a height of 5.33 meters in compliance with a department order that was issued on the same year.
New Skywalk
Toledo also told the Council of her office’s plan to already replace the skywalk in Barangay Maguikay even before it was demolished last April 1.
Said plan is scheduled for implementation next year, as part of a road widening project that would also be implemented in the area.
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