ILOILO CITY – Despite enduring the inconvenience, Ilonggos were still able to crack jokes over the substandard flyover pet project of former Sen. Franklin Drilon after it was briefly used as a pedestrian overpass on Monday, Feb. 6.
“Mount Flyover,” wrote Webster Solina Lauresta after uploading videos and photos of commuters, including himself, who decided to walk across the Ungka Flyover, which has been closed to vehicular traffic since September 2022 as it was deemed unsafe.
Lauresta was one of thousands who decided to walk across the flyover which straddles the border barangays of Pavia town and Iloilo City so they could get to their destinations.
The traffic worsened on Monday as one portion of the road adjacent to the flyover was closed for a road-widening project by the contractor of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) which earlier said widening the road adjacent to the flyover will be one of the solutions to ease heavy traffic.
But the new phase of work led to another traffic congestion and forced commuters to get off public jeepneys and walk across the flyover to catch a ride on the other side.
“Una, kang nakita ko ang flyover abi nakon may zombie apocalypse. Sa darayon nga panaw ko, na feel ko gd tana ang Dinagyang wara pa matapos pero gnparealizar kanakon nga gin-obra gale ang flyover para sa tawo indi sa sarakyan (When I first looked at the flyover, I thought there was a zombie apocalypse. Then when I looked again, I really felt that the Dinagyang Festival was not yet over. But I realized that the flyover was made for pedestrians and not for vehicles),” Lauresta added.
“Timing gd ni abot ko sa skwelahan, buhi na namon (It would be perfect timing when I get to school, our class is over),” said LG Sumalde on the snail-paced movement of vehicles on the national road adjacent to the flyover.
The DPWH took hours to install steel barricades to stop people from walking across the flyover. DPWH officials in the Western Visayas regional office are mum and have not issued any statement as of posting time on the issue.