Importance of reopening Kennon stressed

BAGUIO CITY – The city government urged the Department of Public Works and Highway (DPWH) to speed up the repair and improvement of Kennon Road and open it to light vehicles.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan, said the opening of Kennon will help decongest the monstrous traffic on Marcos Highway and other major roads to Baguio.

The city expects an influx of visitors for the Panagbenga in February, the annual alumni homecoming of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), and Holy Week.

Domogan said that despite incurring extensive damage from natural calamities that trace back to the July 16, 1990 earthquake, Kennon was immediately repaired, so there is no reason for DPWH to further delay its opening.

The public feels that the famous zig-zag road has been closed for too long and that repair work has been at a snail’s pace, the mayor said.

“We cannot afford to continue closing Kennon Road to vehicular traffic because it will creates a negative impact on the city’s tourism industry. While DPWH was able to open another access road leading to Baguio City, the opening of Kennon road to light vehicles is still necessary the soonest,” he said.

Domogan said it is not logical for DPWH officials to say that it is the central office that is empowered to reopen the road because that would make regional office practically useless.

DPWH and the Bureau of Design had identified nine sections of Kennon that need rehabilitation after they were heavily damaged by the month-long monsoon rains last August, Supertyphoon Ompong in September and Tropical Storm Rosita in October.

Aside from the shotcreting of the Klondykes section of the road, other major projects being implemented along Kennon road are the construction of the Camp 5 bridge, the repair and rehabilitation of the Camp 1 and Camp 6 bridges and the slope protection wall projects in different sections of the road which were affected by the previous weather disturbances that visited the Cordillera over the past several months.

Kennon remains the shortest route to and from the city because it takes less than an hour the 23-kilometer road.

In comparison, it takes motorists over an hour to reach Baguio when travelling via Marcos Highway or the newly opened Tubao-NangalisanBaguio road.