TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte (PIA) - - The Department of Transportation (DOTr) opened on May 31 the Metro Davao Bike Lane Project which is part of the P5-billion Active Transport Program anchored on the transport policy of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028.
DOTr Secretary Jaime Bautista led the opening ceremony of the bike lane project by taking a bicycle ride from Robinsons Place Tagum to the nearby section of Daang Maharlika Highway. The bike lane project is implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) XI.
With a total funding of P290,966,073.55, the Metro Davao Bike Lane Project establishes 47.79 kilometers (both ways) of bike lanes along the selected roads in the cities of Tagum and Davao.
Davao City and Tagum are major components of the Metropolitan Davao declared through Republic Act No. 11708.
The project also includes the maintenance and upgrading of a total of 60.24 kilometers (both ways) of bike lanes, including those along the Daang Maharlika Highway section in the City of Tagum.
Construction of End-of-trip cycling facilities which include 30 bike tracks installed in 4 locations across Metro Davao is also part of the Metro Davao Bike Lane Project.
On top of this 47.79 kilometer bike lane expansion in the cities of Tagum and Davao, Bautista said DOTr is also set to expand the bike lanes nationwide to a 2,400 kilometer length by year 2028 under the Active Transport Program.
Sec. Bautista says he has not gone biking for a long time now. The opening of the Metro Davao Bike Lane Project-Tagum gave him time again to ride a bike with Tagum City Mayor Rey T. Uy, DOTr Assistant Secretary for Road Transport Infrastructure James Andres B. Melad, Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Regional Director Nonito A. Llanos, Tagum City Councilor Ronald Eliot, and Department of Public Works and Highways XI Chief Information Officer Dean Ortiz, together with the members of a bikers association in Tagum.
Meanwhile, City Mayor Uy assured Secretary Bautista that the city government would take care of the established bike lanes which Uy views as a factor to contribute to a healthy living of Tagumenyos.
In her talk, DPWH Regional Director Juby Cordon pointed the significance of having bike lanes as she recalled the difficulty of taking a public utility vehicle (PUV) ride during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nakita po ng gobyerno yon na kailangan may sariling lugar kung saan ang ating mga cyclista ay gumamit ng daan. Natapos na po ang pandemic, pero dumami pa rin ang gumagamit ng bisikleta, kaya effort ng DOTr kasama po kami ang paggawa ng bike lane,” she said in the ceremony program held at the Robinsons Place Tagum.
[The government has seen the importance of giving the cyclists their own place in using the highways. The pandemic has ended but many are still using bicycles, so it has become the effort of DOTr with us, to construct bike lanes.]
The Metro Davao Bike Lane Project is projected to benefit a total of 2,067,190 people based on the 2020 Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) Census of Population Project of Davao City and Tagum City. (JMDA/PIA XI)
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