Just straighten and widen our roads, mayor

It is a matter of observable fact that our city grew without the benefit of forward planning. I mean physical planning. Save for the construction of the road leading to the Cebu Provincial Capitol, which used to be called the Jones Avenue, our streets were built on the basis of apparent need. They were made possibly as reactions to the demands of a growing population. How else could we explain the kind of convergence of Osmeña Boulevard, Colon and P. Lopez Streets where aesthetics was obviously not considered? It would not be difficult to understand that that portion of the present Osmeña Boulevard from Colon Street towards Plaza Independencia was, many years ago, called Juan Luna Street. It was built as an entirely separate and different road.

My point is that we cannot help but accept that the absence of symmetry of our city streets is fait acompli. There is no need to put the blame on anyone. Our past leaders did not have time to plan the future of city’s road network.

Certainly, however, we can do something now not only to correct the defects of the road construction of the past but more importantly to make the city travel attuned to the needs of modern transportation.

Let me cite as an example that portion of M. J Cuenco Avenue fronting what is known as the Chinese cemetery. From the corner of Gen. Maxilom Avenue (Mango Avenue, according to our elders) up to the area of the skin clinic near the cemetery, the road is, compared to most of our streets, wider. It has four lanes. But, from that point northward up to the site of the barangay hall of Mabolo, specially where the entry to the Barangay Hipodromo is located, the road has suddenly been reduced to half its width, meaning only two lanes.

The situation at Gen. Echavez Street is similar, if not worse. This is a second example. Again by the fact that it has a different name than Gorordo Avenue, these two, even if one maybe mistaken as the extension of the other, were obviously built separately. They were not planned as one road. At the corner of Gen. Maxilom Avenue, the entry toward Echavez Street is wide. But, it tapers (as it bends) heading Sikatuna Street to such a degree that at the corner of said Sikatuna Street it is also just about one half of its width.

We don’t have to be geniuses to realize the terrible effects of these examples of narrowed streets. The big number of vehicles that can be accommodated on a four-lane M. J. Cuenco Avenue (two lanes with respect to Echavez St.) will become unmanageable if, by force of circumstance, they are to squeeze in only two lanes (or a virtual one-lane Echavez St.)

Fortunately, the city is not without legal weapon with which to address this issue. Almost two decades ago, a road ordinance was passed by the city council and approved by the mayor. It embodied, at least, three principles that are both useful and necessary. First, straighten the roads. Second, widen the roads. Third, build new roads.

The two examples we cited above are classic cases of streets that have to be straightened and widened. Constructions of buildings on the sides of these streets are only allowed on condition that they are set back, to mean, that some areas are left for eventual widening of roads. There must be an improvement in the flow of traffic as a result of any straightening and widening of these roads.

After serving our city for about two decades, His Honor Mayor Tomas R. Osmeña, has but few months to work his fading magic. Rather than engage in a psychological war with Mr. Jonathan Guardo, his prospective political foe, the mayor can rectify the failures of past regime and that of his own, if he belatedly implements the principles that lie at the bedrock of this road ordinance. Who knows, he might be able to recapture his former luster.

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