Skywalk shows signs of decay, closed by village
Pedestrians taking the skywalk near a university and a mall and motorists plying the Banilad-Talamban (Ban-Tal) road in Cebu City are advised to take caution, given the dilapidated condition of the structure.
In an interview with SunStar Cebu, Apas Barangay Captain Ramil Ayuman said they will have to temporarily close the affected area to pedestrians as this poses a threat to safety.
“Ato lang sa gyud butangan og cordon hangtod makasiguro ta nga dili na siya peligro agian (We’ll have to cordon the affected area until we are sure that it’s safe for the public to pass again),” he said.
Last week, concerned citizens were quick to post on Facebook photos of the skywalk, calling it an “accident waiting to happen.”
The skywalk’s condition, though, is not only affecting pedestrians. Since the steel beams are bending downwards, pulling the entire mass of the structure with it, the skywalk is in danger of collapsing on the unsuspecting motorists plying the Ban-Tal road.
With this, City Engineer Josefa Ylanan said that she wrote a report on the matter for the Department of Public Works and Highways(DPWH)-Central Visayas to look into.
Although skywalks and other similar infrastructures are under the National Government, she has assigned City Hall engineers to monitor the area.
“It’s not under our jurisdiction, but public safety is paramount. We recommended that the skywalk be maintained regularly, considering that it’s one of the busiest and most used sky- walks in the city,” Ylanan said.
She said that the skywalk should be regularly maintained since it has been damaged by several vehicular accidents in the past years. The most recent incident happened last October, after a 10-wheeler truck carrying a cargo container got stuck under the skywalk.
Traffic flow in the area was stalled for at least two hours following the incident. “There may have been no reports of casualties and/or injuries at the moment, but we don’t want to wait for that,” Ylanan said.
Several calls were made by SunStar Cebu to DPWH Cebu City district engineer Nicomedes Leonor, but got no response. /