DPWH closes Kennon road

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The shortest route going to Baguio City and the lowlands was closed to motorists after a weakened road foundation eroded yesterday.

The Department of Public Works and Highways in Cordillera said the huge road slip affected a section along Camp 2 in Tuba, Benguet.

In an advisory issued at 7 a.m. yesterday, the DPWH warned motorists that the road is no longer passable for all types of vehicle.

To get to and from Baguio, motorists can pass thru the Marcos Highway or the Asin-Nangalisan-San Pascual road.

The weakened road foundation, according to the DPWH, eroded early yesterday after getting saturated with rainwater. The water level at Bued River, which runs along the road section, also rose due to continuous rains in the past days.

“Heavy equipment and manpower have been deployed to clear stockpiled materials along the road in order to make one lane of the section passable (to vehicular traffic),” the DPWH-Cordillera said in a statement.

The agency also assured the public that a new advisory would be issued once the eroded road section will be safe for passage.

Meanwhile, Baguio City Mayor Benjamin Magalong gave public utility companies three weeks, beginning Sept. 4, to overhaul their cable systems and eliminate hazards it might create.

Magalong said that, although there have been significant gains since the city began addressing the problem on dangerous and unsightly cable lines commonly referred to as spaghetti wires, the serious risks they pose to life and property remain.

“We have been receiving reports of telecommunication posts or wires left lying on streets causing accidents among pedestrians including elders and children. There were also complaints of dangling, tangled, sagging or low-lying wires in various parts of the city that pose danger to vehicles passing by,” the mayor pointed out.

He also noted that the Benguet Electric Cooperative also complained of hooked cables and wires that affect its electric lines and cause unwanted power outages.

“It is high time for our partner utility companies to fasttrack the correction of their poles and the tidying of their cablings. Let us not wait for a serious incident to happen before we act. Let us do it in three weeks,” Magalong said.

He warned that lines that would remain uncorrected after the period would be cut and dropped. — Jose Rodel Clapano