The Metro Manila Development Authority is set to open to pedestrians on Dec. 15 the controversial footbridge in Quezon City tagged by netizens as “stairway to heaven” for being inaccessible to pregnant women, the elderly and persons with disabilities.
The agency was supposed to formally open the steel bridge last Nov. 15 but later decided to postpone the launch and redesigned the P10-million structure following a rash of criticism from newspaper columnists and netizens.
“We’re just finishing the additional features of the bridge and we have a deadline next month. We’re expecting to open it to the public on Dec. 15,” said MMDA chief information officer Sharon Gentalian.
Gentalian said that in the new design, the MMDA added another landing platform on the footbridge so that pedestrians will not find it too steep.
The MMDA had said that the footbridge will be redesigned to add railings and landings but its height will remain as this satisfies the MRT management’s requirement for a five-meter clearance from its power lines.
“Dinagdagan lang ng landing o platform. Pero same pa rin ang height,” said Gentalian.
Last week, MMDA spokesperson and assistant secretary Celine Pialago asked the public not to worry about the safety and the structural integrity of the 10-meter high structure which was constructed above the Metro Railway Transit Line 3 (MRT-3) rails along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, near GMA-Kamuning station.
Pialago made the appeal following the arrest of four construction workers of the bridge in a police anti-drug operation.
“Nothing to worry about the safety of the bridge despite reports that the workers involved (in the construction) were (drug) addicts. We have final inspection prior to acceptance at all government projects,” she said.
Arrested at the construction site barracks of the bridge were Jan Jan Rasonable, 26; Joseph Baldia, 27; Lolito Lacang, 38, and Jonard Jagon, 23.
Authorities caught the suspects while having a drug pot session at their barracks. Recovered from the suspects were sachets of metamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as shabu, and drug paraphernalia.
The arrest was made after concerned residents tipped off the police that some construction workers of the bridge are drug dependents and suspected to be engaged in shabu trafficking.
Meanwhile, Pialago said that the cost for the P10-million bridge would have ballooned if it were a tunnel-type structure.
MMDA officials said the footbridge was placed at that height because there has to be at least 3-4 meters of space between the footbridge and the MRT-3 structure so it doesn’t touch the electrical lines.
They added that the footbridge was built three months ago due to pedestrian-related accidents in the area.
The MMDA keeps asking the public to use footbridges instead of risking their lives crossing major thoroughfares.
At least 110 footbridges had been built around Metro Manila, more than half of which were constructed by the MMDA, while the rest were built by the local government units.
Despite the huge amount of taxpayers’ money that had gone into the construction of footbridges, people continue to cross busy streets and dangerous portions of the roads where they are not supposed to.
The agency said that road accident is one of the major causes of monstrous traffic in the metropolis.
In 2014, members of the Metro Manila Council, the MMDA’s policy-making body, approved the proposal of the agency to increase the penalty against jaywalking from P200 to P500 following reports that the numbers of jaywalking incidents are increasing despite numerous government efforts to educate undisciplined pedestrians.
READ: MMDA: Don’t worry about Quezon City footbridge