EDITORIAL — Poor to bad condition bridges

One of the most iconic bridges in the Philippines, the San Juanico Bridge that connects the provinces of Samar and Leyte in the Visayas, is showing signs of “structural vulnerabilities”.

According to a report in Philstar.com the vulnerabilities were found during a recent assessment, and necessitated restrictions on some types of vehicles --especially the really heavy ones like commercial cargo trucks and buses-- from crossing the bridge for now.

Only light vehicles not exceeding three metric tons are allowed to cross the bridge one at a time and on the center line.

And the San Juanico Bridge isn’t alone.

The Local Roads and Bridges Inventory of the Department of the Interior and Local Government has also reported that over 70 bridges in Central Visayas have been assessed as being in poor to bad condition --including both the Mandaue-Mactan Bridge and the Marcelo Fernan Bridge between the Cities of Mandaue and Cebu.

Then again, that’s just in Central Visayas; we wonder how many bridges are in poor to bad condition in other places in the country.

We don’t have to mention how important bridges are. They don’t just connect one place to another over terrain that will render straightforward travel impossible if not dangerous; they also facilitate trade between different places and shorten travel time for many drivers and commuters.

Vulnerabilities on bridges that may soon render them unsafe must be addressed immediately. The issue regarding bridges becomes more urgent now that elections are over and politicians and local chief executives may soon become focused on other things.

Also, budgets for some things may suddenly become aligned for another, if you know what we mean.

We don’t want any untoward incidents involving bridges to happen. Certainly not like the one that happened to the newly-retrofitted Cabagan-Santa Maria Bridge in Isabela that partially collapsed last February. It was just a miracle no one was injured or killed in that incident.

And when a bridge fails or has to undergo repairs, this leads to complications like rerouting, not to mention traffic jams. More reason to address such problems immediately.