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Category Archives: Pedestrian
Another misplaced pedestrian footbridge?
There are soil tests currently being performed along L. Sumulong Memorial Circle across from Dela Paz National High School. This would probably be for the foundations of a pedestrian footbridge in the area that will, in theory, reduce if not eliminate pedestrian crossings in the area. On most days when there’s school, there are a lot of people, mostly students, crossing here. The result is traffic slowing down along both sides of the road that happens to be near the junction with Pinagmisahan Road. Is this enough reason to build a footbridge here? Probably and tempting enough for those who look for ‘easy’ solutions rather than come up with something that is less car-centric than a footbridge where the crossing is short and quick if done on the ground rather than via an overpass.
Soil tests across from Dela Paz National High School.There should be a solution here along the lines of complete streets rather than the usual pedestrian footbridge that’s a favorite of local and national government officials, planners and engineers who appear to be too lazy to come up with a more suitable treatment to improve safety in a high pedestrian and vehicle traffic area.
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International Shrine of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage
It’s Maundy Thursday today and there will be the Alay Lakad later this afternoon. Here are photos I took yesterday morning at the shrine including the road closures sign or tarp posted at the intersection of P. Oliveros Street, Ortigas Avenue Extension and L. Sumulong Circle near the provincial capitol site.
Access was already being limited as of yesterday morning. On regular days, there will be a queue of vehicles mostly new and to be blessed at the shrine. There’s limited parking at the shrine itself so visitors or pilgrims would have to find parking around the church including the nearby mall.
View of the shrine from the entrance to the complex
The main altar of the shrine
Retablo to Our Lady of Guadalupe
The main road to the shrine, P. Oliveros Street, is an extension of Ortigas Avenue Extension from the Provincial Capitol site. This will be the main route to the shrine and will be filled with people later this afternoon and overnight.
Road closures from 6:00 PM today until 6:00 AM tomorrow (Good Friday)
The Alay Lakad is a spectacle by itself and probably rivals if not exceeds the Traslacion of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila in terms of the number of participants.
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On the Pasig River esplanade project
My news feed was full of articles on the Pasig River esplanade, or at least the recently completed section at the Manila Central Post Office building. This is a proof of concept type of project that hopes to be expanded or extended to cover both sides of the river much like the Iloilo River Esplanade project. If you are wondering what the section looked like before the project, here are two posts I wrote in 2012 that features a lot of photos of the Muelle del Rio:
These were way before the fire that damaged the Post Office building. However, even at that time, there were already calls for the renovation, even repurposing of the Post Office building. Such projects or proposal draw inspiration from Singapore where old buildings have been preserved and many repurposed (e.g., how about the Post Office building transformed into a hotel?). Perhaps such will breathe life and lead to a revival of this part of Manila?
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29th Annual Conference of the TSSP
The Transportation Science Society of the Philippines (TSSP) held its 29th Annual Conference today, December 7, 2023. Following is the program for the conference, which featured a panel discussion in the morning and technical sessions in the afternoon.
This was the first mainly face-to-face or in-person conference for the society since 2019. Previously, the conferences were online. As reported in the concluding part of the program, there were 84 participants who showed up at the venue while there were 30+ participants who were online via Zoom.
There were a couple of awards at the conference. These were the Best Paper Award and the Best Presentation Award. The Best Paper Award, based on the scores garnered from the blind review of the papers went to:
Maria Belen Vasquez and Jun T. Castro of UP Diliman for their paper entitled “Exploring Travel Patterns of Mobility of Care in Guiuan, Eastern Samar: Assessment of Gender and Sociodemographic Factors Using Spatial Analysis”
There was a tie for the Best Presentation Award. The two were Ms. Vasquez for the presentation of the paper on the Mobility of Care in Eastern Samar, and Mr. Erris Sancianco for the presentation of a paper he co-authored with Noriel Christopher Tiglao, Niki Jon Tolentino, Gillian Kate Hidalgo, Mary Joy Leanda, and Lester Jay Ollero entitled “Evaluating the Fuel Efficiency and Eco-Driving Potential of the EDSA Carousel using On-Board Diagnostics (OBD) and Mobile Crowdsourcing“. These papers will likely find their way to the Philippine Transportation Journal’s next issue.
Though it was not announced, a likely venue for the next conference will be Vigan, Ilocos Sur in the Northern Philippines. The likely host will be the University of Northern Philippines, the premier state university in that province. Previously and most recently, the conference was held in Cebu City (hosted by the University of San Jose-Recoletos) in 2019 and before that in Cagayan De Oro City (hosted by Xavier University) in 2018. TSSP was already organizing the 2020 conference when the pandemic struck and the country went on a lockdown. That conference was supposed to have been held in Baguio City in Benguet, and to be hosted by St. Louis University.
More information on the conference may soon be found at the TSSP’s official website: https://ncts.upd.edu.ph/tssp/
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On making intersections safe by ‘daylighting’
I came across this interesting article that introduced a somewhat new term to me – daylighting.
Abramson, B. (November 24, 2023) “How to Daylight Your City’s Intersections (and Why It Matters),” Strong Towns, https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2023/11/24/how-to-daylight-your-citys-intersections-and-why-it-matters [Last accessed: 12/3/2023]
From the article:
“Daylighting is the technical term for a common-sense solution to traffic safety: By removing visual obstructions in approaching intersections, users can better see and more safely cross each other’s paths. “
There are certainly many intersections and even mid-block crossings in our cities and municipalities that could use ‘daylighting’ to improve safety. Many of these intersections and crossings are used by the most vulnerable road users like children, senior citizens and persons with disabilities. Interventions need not be expensive and may also involve the community. Examples are shown in the article, and these can easily be implemented formally or informally with the cooperation of stakeholders including the local government units and national agencies (i.e., DPWH) under whose jurisdiction many roads are.
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On walking and running for health
Here is a quick share of an article on walking and running from the New York Times:
On walking and taking the stairs
With the increasing popularity of active transport, people still forget that biking is not the only mode being referred to by the term. Walking is the most basic form of transport for us and there are many creative ways to encourage walking even if it is indoors like in an office building, a school building or a shopping mall. Here is a photo of the stairs at one mall with encouraging words for those taking the stairs instead of the escalators or elevators. It only takes 30 minutes of walking everyday to gain the benefits of a more active lifestyle.
My daily walks take me up and down the hilly roads in our neighborhood. I attribute to these walks my relatively effortless climbs to the 4th floor of our school building where my office is. Our elevator has been out of commission for some time now so we are all forced to take the stairs to our lecture rooms and offices. These I refer to as ‘stairmaster’ exercises, which is included in my daily routine so it adds to my step count as well as being recorded for the flights of stairs I take each day. I attest to this routine to improving my health and well-being, and highly recommend this to those who are able to do so.
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Incorporating bike lanes along local roads – an example in Taguig City
I have not used an old route that we usually take to go to BGC from our place in Antipolo. This is via the Manila East Road, Highway 2000, Barkadahan Bridge and C6. From C6, we usually take Ruhale instead of Seagull Avenue as the former provided a shorter route towards Levi Mariano Avenue and C5. So it was only last weekend that I was able to see the improvements along Ruhale Street and how bike lanes were incorporated along this road. I am sharing the following photos showing a two lane road and Class 2 bike lanes.
The green pavement markings indicate an intersection or driveway.
Noticeable are the electric posts that remain along the bike lanes. These need to be transferred so they will not pose danger to all road users.
More electric posts along the bike lanes
Bike lanes in front of an industrial establishment
Close-up of a post in the middle of the bike lane.
Bike lane across another industrial establishment. Again, note the green pavement marking across the driveway of the establishment.
Bike lanes along a predominantly residential area along Ruhale.I would consider this as a good practice example that can be replicated elsewhere. Of course, it is not perfect and as shown in the photos, there is much room for improvement including the transfer of electric posts that pose as hazards to all road users. The bike lanes are wide enough that installing bollards for the perception of physical protection vs. motor vehicles can be considered. Ruhale is generally a low speed, low volume road so perhaps the current state with no barriers would be enough for now. Also, we need to appreciate that these are already gains or wins in as far as active transport is concerned. A few years ago, this would not have been implemented by national or local governments.
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Article share: On the benefits of sidewalk networks
Here is another quick share of an article by Todd Litman on Planetizen. The article contains a lot of information or data about why we should be investing in sidewalks or pedestrian facilities (i.e., for walking).
Litman, T. (August 6, 2023) “Completing Sidewalk Networks: Benefits and Costs,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/blogs/124999-completing-sidewalk-networks-benefits-and-costs?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news-08142023&mc_cid=cd3b2e2ba5&mc_eid=9ccfe464b1 [Last accessed: 9/23/2023]
To quote from the article:
“Walking is the most basic and universal travel mode, and sidewalks are the most basic walking infrastructure, but they are often overlooked and undervalued in transportation planning. Completing and improving sidewalk networks can help achieve many economic, social and environmental goals.
Recent case studies indicate that typical North American communities spend $30 to $60 annually per capita on sidewalks, and would need to double or triple these spending levels to complete their networks. This is a large increase compared with current pedestrian spending but small compared with what governments and businesses spend on roads and parking facilities, and what motorists spend on their vehicles. Sidewalk funding increases are justified to satisfy ethical and legal requirements, and to achieve various economic, social and environmental goals. There are several possible ways to finance sidewalk improvements. These usually repay their costs thorough savings and benefits.”
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On the benefits of walkable communities to pregnant women
I break the series on MCIA Terminal 1 to share this interesting article relating walkable communities to healthier pregnancies:
To quote from the article:
“The study, published in the journal of Economics and Human Biology, found that expectant mothers living in walkable counties tend to engage in more walking and exercise and have fewer issues with premature births, low birth weight, gestational diabetes and hypertension. Walking is often recommended as a safer, more moderate activity for pregnant women, so the authors reasoned that living in a more walkable area could have health benefits for them.”
If you’re interested in the details of the study referred to in the article, here is the link to the paper entitled “You’ll never walk alone – the effects of walkability on pregnancy behaviors and outcomes” in the journal Economics & Human Biology:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2023.101269
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Caught (up) in traffic 