Bautista: Another flyover?

WELL, it seems another flyover will be rising in the city soon. Okay, I’m jumping the gun.

After all, the secretary of the Department of Public Works and Highways only authorized the conduct of a feasibility study on the matter.

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Quick recap. DPWH Sec. Rogelio Singson was the guest of honor and speaker during last Tuesday’s Baguio Day rites over at the Convention Center. During his speech, he said the Cordillera region will still enjoy some sort of priority in the allotment of funds, especially for roads devastated by the last big typhoon to strike.

But unknown to most, Singson also toured Baguio City particularly the City Camp Lagoon drainage tunnel and the Bokawkan Road retaining wall construction. He agreed there should be something done with the former and was totally amazed by the workmanship of the latter.

So much so that when the idea was broached for the construction of a flyover at that intersection, he didn’t shoot it down immediately. He tasked the DPWH-CAR to make the feasibility study. Knowing the DPWH think tank, there is only one feasibility – it is feasible.

Well engineering-wise that is. On acceptability and practicality, those aren’t usually covered by DPWH feasibility studies. The highways department only studies if it is possible to construct a structure, somewhere. That is it. And in most cases, it is possible to do so.

What would you expect? They are engineers, who only see the world in terms of concrete mixtures and solid designs. They don’t meddle in such mundane things like whether a flyover, for example, is the most practical solution to the problem.

Having said that, the possibility of a flyover rising over the Naguilian-Bokawkan skyline is very strong. Heck, this is another pet and impact project of Rep. Bernardo Vergara (another engineer), so why wouldn’t it be pursued?

Remember how the Magsaysay Avenue flyover was practically rammed into our throats? Or how the BGH version was also forced into our daily lives? So why expect the Bokawkan one be any different?

It is a Vergara project and that is that. It will rise and we can do nothing about it. Or can we?

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I’m not against progress (but then again structures made of concrete being set up willy-nilly can hardly be equated with true progress, just look at Manila), but I do believe the hundreds of millions of pesos which would be spent on a flyover could best serve other more important things in the list of priorities of the city.

Take for example the repair of the portion of Magsaysay Avenue which up to this date is still one big puddle. You this one, it is at exactly the corner between Magsaysay and P. Burgos Street. Equally important don’t you think? And it won’t even cost an arm and a leg to fix the problem.

Or how about the Cresencia Village slide? With the rains now at its height don’t you think it is about time a retaining wall is constructed to keep Bokawkan from vanishing into this big maw?

Or even more important than a flyover – a permanent city-owned and controlled engineered sanitary landfill where we can bury our trash.

Is a flyover needed? Yes, definitely, in about 10 to 15 years (but then again, gas would be so expensive by then that most of us with cars will probably not use them). The city ESL was needed last year. Which one do you think needs more funding?