TUBA, Benguet – The Cordillera office of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH-CAR) will be putting up a P246 million rockshed as a slope protection along the identified critical portion of the scenic and historic Kennon road to ensure the safety of motorists using the said roadline in going in and out of the province.
The rockshed will be constructed in the portion of Kennon road that suffered a soil collapse at the height of continuous afternoon rains last May 9, 2023 that caused the temporary closure of the road. This will be similar to the rockshed constructed along Marcos highway that made it an all-weather road.
The construction of the multi-million rockshed was one of the recommendations of the geological study and analysis undertaken by consultants way back in 2017 to address the perennial road collapse along identified critical portions of the road during heavy rains that frequently result in the total closure of the road to vehicular traffic.
The rockshed project implemented in January was programmed to be completed by the end of the year but the recent soil collapse affected the laying out of the project’s foundation which might cause certain delays in its completion but the implementation of the project will still push through as programmed.
Earlier, members of the cordillera Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (CDRRMC) conducted an ocular inspection in the portion of the road affected by the soil collapse in Camp 6 to assess the extent of the clearing operations that had already been undertaken.
Starting around 5 pm of May 16, 2023, Kennon Road was opened by the CDRRMC to vehicles of residents along the stretch of the road as well to travelling essential workers going in and out of Baguio City, specifically those working in emergency services, medical, military, police and those in construction works along the said road.
The advisory will be effective until further notice to ensure the smooth flow of motorists in and out of the said communities.
The DPWH-CAR will push through with the implementation of the construction of the rockshed based on the recommendations of consultants who conducted a thorough study of the identified critical portions of Kennon road to ensure the smooth flow of vehicular traffic and in preparation to its conversion into al all-weather road once all the programmed projects along the roadline shall have been completed.
Motorists prefer to take Kennon road as their route in going in and out of Baguio city being the shortest route in going to and from the country’s Summer Capital.
The construction of the rockshed has been seen by the consultants as one of the permanent solutions to ensure that critical portions of the road will still be open to vehicular traffic during the height of the rainy season because the debris from the mountain slopes will be directly falling on the shed itself and eventually falling into the river bed.
