Public works officials disclosed that the implementation of road widening projects in all engineering districts in the country had been one of the major endeavors of the agency since 2016 where the same had been implemented all over the country and not confined to a single locality.
The road widening projects of the agency had been envisioned to take back the road-right-of-way (RROW) that had been encroached upon by structures built by business establishment owners and even residents that constricted the smooth flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic along major roads in the different parts of the country.
Further, road widening projects had also been funded on a multi-year basis taking some time for the public works department to complete such projects that had been started several years ago primarily due to the limited funds available annually.
Public works officials claim that regardless of whoever are the local officials that will be in power, the agency will still pursue the implementation of the road-widening projects as one of the major thrusts of the agency that is funded annually for their implementation on a multiyear basis because of the limited resources of the government that are equitable distributed in the different regional and district offices around the country.
The road-widening projects along major national roads had been prioritized by the public works department followed by secondary national arterial roads that are still within the agency’s jurisdiction.
According to sources, the implementation of the road-widening projects had been fast tracked during the series of lockdown periods that paved the way for the agency to be able to work on the funded projects easily because of the implementation of community quarantine restrictions.
Moreover, the interior and local government department included accomplishments in road clearing activities as one of the criteria in conferring to local governments the Seal of Good Local Governance (SGLG) to ensure the commitment of local governments to support the said endeavor that allowed Baguio city to be conferred the SGLG award in 2016.
The public works department is inclined to complete the programmed and funded road-widening projects in the different parts of the country in due time to ensure wider spaces where motor vehicles and pedestrians could maneuver and also contribute in providing more spaces to accommodate the increasing volume of motor vehicles plying the various roads nationwide daily.
Under the present standards of the agency, the width of national roads is around 60 to 100 meters depending on the situation in the areas where the roads are located.
