THE CITY Council approved a resolution requesting the Baguio City Police office (BCPO) and the City Engineering Office (CEO) to conduct a study and subsequently implement feasible traffic or engineering solutions to ease the congestion in the city, especially during rush hours.
Authored by Vice - Mayor Edison Bilog and Councilor Maria Mylen Victoria Yaranon, the resolution stated it has been observed the pedestrian overpass along Abanao Street near the Maharlika Livelihood Complex is always congested, especially during rush hours and the congestion in the different parts of the overpass has greatly caused discomfort to all individuals that pass through the said area, particularly the children, pregnant women, elderly and persons with disabilities.
Because of the overcrowded overpass, the resolution states thieves or pickpockets have been reported to have taken advantage of the thick crowd to pursue their illegal activities.
While it can be noted local police has been deploying more uniformed and non-uniformed police officers in the area during rush hours, the resolution claimed said strategy of the BCPO has not been most effective due to the lack of traffic or appropriate engineering solutions that will guarantee long-term solutions to the situation.
Among the suggestions received by the local legislative body to ease the pedestrian congestion in the said area are the installation of temporary dividers or centre railings, widening of the bottleneck area, particularly beside the Maharlika Livelihood Complex or to re-construct the facility to become an O-shaped overpass.
The resolution claimed there is a need for the local police force and the concerned office of the local government to study and subsequently implement feasible traffic or engineering solutions to ease the congestion of pedestrians in the said overpass and other similarly situated overpasses in the different parts of the city.
The resolution stated timely interventions must be put in place by the concerned law enforcement agencies and offices of the local government to address the overcrowding and clogging in the overpass during rush hours and to reduce the number of pickpocketing incidents that happen in the area.
Moreover, it added engineering interventions will prevent the vulnerable sectors like children, senior citizens and persons with disabilities from being inconvenienced when using the overpass.
The local legislative body expects the concerned offices to adhere to the request within a reasonable period of time to address the persistent complaints of overcrowding from pedestrians. (Dexter See/PIO)