BAGUIO CITY – The city government’s traffic technical working group (TWG) is proposing the construction of a 3-storey multi-level pay parking building within the 1-hectare site of the Baguio orchidarium as an alternative area to the proposed structure in the Ganza parking area or old city auditorium.
Engr. Richard Lardizabal, head of the city government’s Traffic and Transport Management Division of the City Engineering Office (CEO) and a member of the TWG, presented to city officials an overview of the proposed multi-level pay parking building in the Baguio orchidarium site which could accommodate over 1,000 motor vehicles at one time.
He disclosed that the flower vendors in the orchidarium will not be displaced as they will be accommodated in the proposed the multi-level parking building pursuant to the policy of the city government on the put up of green buildings.
Part of the proposed 3-storey multi-level parking structure in the Baguio orchidarium will be a one level basement parking with entrances and exists along Kisad Road and other nearby roads to help in easing the traffic congestion that may be created by the influx of vehicles to the said facility.
Earlier, the city government entertained a number of proposals to put up a 5- or 8-storey multi-level pay parking building within the Ganza parking area to accommodate over 700 vehicles, while some proponents are also looking at the old city auditorium site as the most feasible area to put up a pay parking structure aside from its proposed conversion into a creative arts center.
Based on the proposal of the city’s TWG, the footprint of the proposed multi-level parking structure will be over 6,000 square meters, sufficient to accommodate over 1,000 vehicles in a so-called green parking building which will the first for the city government in case the same will be realized.
The city’s TWG has been implementing a number of traffic experiments in the different parts of the city to ascertain the most feasible traffic scheme to be adopted to help in easing the worsening traffic congestion around the city, especially within roads in the central business district area and other adjoining places.
Lardizabal claimed there will be a continuous implementation of traffic experiments in various roads around the city to help in ascertaining the immediate and long-term solutions to the traffic congestion.
The TWG has been closely working with concerned sectors of the community in the conduct of the needed traffic experiment over the past several months to seek doable solutions to ease traffic congestions around the city which has a negative impact of the economic activities.
By Dexter A. See
