A lot has already been written about Baguio’s deteriorated environment and its disastrous urban development. Open spaces such as the botanical garden and the iconic Burnham Park right in the central business district are being slowly encroached upon and have now become the center of a bitter debate between environmentalists who want to keep the park as an open space and a city government determined to put up a multi-story parking facility combined with a shopping complex.
Yes, a mall right in Burnham Park.
This is quite a departure from the original plan which envisioned a parking facility only. This reminds me of the Center Mall located at the heart of the CBD along Magsaysay Avenue. When construction was finished, it was discovered that about 100 meters of the city road has disappeared.
A case of graft was filed against certain officials but nothing came out of it and these officials got away with corruption. Burnham Park has in fact already been degraded. The area beside the Igorot garden is now full of eateries. Part of the football ground is already a parking area. The old city auditorium where the parking facility will be constructed is now littered with small stores. So is that portion where the Lions club built a facility used as the campaign headquarters of a politician every election. There is now a police substation right at the northern edge of the park and the area beside the football ground along Harrison Road is now full of flower shops. There are also buildings located just as one enters the athletic bowl.
The reason that the parking facility is attracting controversy is its size and its negative impact on the park’s ambiance. An open space right at the central business district is always tempting to local officials wanting to solve difficult problems like traffic with easy solutions.
Baguio is no different from other cities and municipalities willing to destroy open spaces and parks in the name of progress and development. The main reason of the city in wanting to construct a parking facility is to solve the worsening traffic problem.
But how bad is the traffic problem that the city government is prepared to destroy the iconic Burnham Park? Let us look at some facts. The total road system of the city is about 344.5 kilometers with 44,890 registered vehicles. This gives the city a vehicle density of 130 vehicles per kilometer of road and even less if the Camp John Hay road system is included. This compares to Metro Manila’s density of about 500.
This kind of density is still very good and tells us many things. One is that the city traffic authorities are not competent or do not know what they are doing. If they do, traffic would not be as bad as shown along Session Road in front of and around the Post Office. Another is along Abanao Street fronting the Justice Hall at the entrance of Camp Allen just to name a couple. Compared to the National Capital Region, solving Baguio’s traffic problem is doable. Most of the traffic congestion is concentrated in the CBD because all the city roads are severely blocked by oversized jeepneys using the roads as permanent loading stations. This is illegal but the city allows it.
During long weekends, congestion develops at Mines View because of the stores along the road which affects Wright Park, the Baguio Country Club and John Hay areas. Along the national roads like Session Road, seven out of every 10 vehicles are taxi cabs, many of them empty. If road usage in the CBD can be made more efficient, then traffic can be kept moving.
But the city seems to be only fixated on Burnham Park. One fundamental rule in traffic management is not to mix politics and traffic management but despite the worsening traffic situation in the city, this is exactly what is going on.
Another is that there must be an organization composed of competent people who knows and understand what has to be done. It goes without saying that corruption must also stop. Traffic rerouting, a favorite of traffic authorities to solve congestion, is no longer enough to do the trick because the problem is more complicated due to increasing motorization.
In all the attempts of the city to solve the traffic problem in the CBD, no major engineering proposal has ever been made. The time has come to think about this—and of a more efficient public transport system as a medium-term plan so that the public can be enticed to use public transport and leave their vehicles at home.
Like in Metro Manila, the city government must start planning the eventual phase out of jeepneys. The trouble is that city officials are not using their imagination hard enough in order to come out with some credible plans.
This is probably because there has been no scientific city traffic and transport study done by competent people since 1981. There are therefore no scientific data to be used in basing proper decisions on policies. Instead, city officials seem to think that through experience and the power of observation, it is enough to solve difficult traffic problems. Unfortunately, traffic management is a lot more complicated. If it is that simple, there would be no need for traffic and transport schools.
There are other solutions out there without destroying the only remaining open space in the CBD. Let us not wait for President Duterte to intervene.