Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña has requested the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to reduce the steepness of the slope of the skywalks in the city so these will be more accessible to senior citizens and students.
He suggested to reduce the skywalks’ slopes by 80 percent.
“Right now, one of our big problems is that the people are not using the skywalk kay kapoy kaayo,” he said.
This, he believes, contributed to the jaywalking problems in the city.
He said that motorists are complaining about pedestrians getting into their way even in areas where there is a skywalk.
“But really, the problem can be reduced if our skywalks will be modified to have a milder slope so it’s easy for an old man like me to go up or whatever, or for a child carrying his school bag to go up because the stance is okay,” Osmeña said.
The mayor already wrote DPWH Secretary Mark Villar about his concern.
Expenses
He told the agency that the renovation of the skywalks will not cost hundred of millions.
If the National Government will not act on his request, Osmeña said the City Government is willing to shoulder the redesign expenses.
Osmeña has since pushed for the modification of the city skywalks.
He first raised the matter in 2012, when he was still a congressman, after the previous administration said they will demolish the unused skywalks in the city.
He had even asked DPWH then to find a skywalk that could be modified and used as a pilot project. (Clarenz Jay Mendoza , USJ-R Intern)