Pedestrian, brisk-walking and bicycle lanes
THE City Council during last Monday’s regular council session has approved on first reading a proposed ordinance introduced by Baguio City Councilor Lilia Fariñas which seeks to allow the installation of mandatory pedestrian, brisk walking and bicycle lanes in all feasible roads in the city.
In her proposal, Fariñas stated that in order to foster economic and environmental sustainability, one of the best practices of the great urbanized economies such as Copenhagen, Norway and Amsterdam in the Netherlands, is to prioritize and promote pedestrianism, and more significantly, infuse in their urban planning: Bicycle lanes.
This Best Practice purposefully attempts to eradicate, and at least, mitigate air pollution that emanates from interminable increase of cars and other modes of transport that significantly contribute to Global Warming the whole world is now suffering from.
Beleaguered by traffic congestion, and coupled with sickening fumes emanating from cars, let alone the smoke belched by old inefficient public transports, the city has no better recourse than to give-in to solutions that will at the least, mitigate this dilemma and contribute to global efforts of sustainability and global warming reduction.
The lady councilor further specified that much like the great economies have set as a notable, practical example, encouraging people to walk or use a bicycle will consequently reduce traffic by lessening vehicles on the road.
It will notably lessen the incidence of air pollution, and even more, will promote health and wellness, not only to constituents of the city, but laso to all visitors and tourists as a whole.
Fariñas however quantified that with the infusion of walkers and bicycle lanes to the urban concept, the City has to insure the safety of its constituents by installing road and traffic markers to signify and make aware that motorists and drivers should slow down and be aware that the rightmost side of the road is dedicated to pedestrians, brisk-walkers, joggers, and cyclists, and therefore, should exercise extreme caution when passing them by. Once this measure will be passed into law, it will mandate that all roads within the jurisdiction of the city be installed with a pedestrian, brisk-walking and/or bicycle lanes, by painting or with any other more efficient and practical means, in order to inform and signify such lanes as a cautionary measure for motorists and drivers to slow down and take extra caution.
On the other hand, roads within the jurisdiction of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) be respectfully requested to allow the installation of such that this ordinance purports to, those that are within the boundaries of the city but however, are exclusive of its jurisdiction, such as National or Regional highways.