Evaluation Of Pedestrian Overpass In Barangay Calumpang, General Santos City

Large roads are great for moving vehicles through an area. However, if you are a pedestrian, getting across a wide, busy, high speed road can be daunting. It is for this reason that pedestrian overpass are built. Pedestrian overpass allow pedestrians to safely cross a busy road without conflicts. Settled in the southernmost city of the Philippines, the City of General Santos is the 15th most populous city in the country with 594,446 inhabitants and is classified as a highly-urbanized first class city. It has a total land area of 53,606 hectares with 26 Barangays, one of which is Barangay Calumpang has a population of 67,156 the highest among all Barangays in General Santos City.The pedestrian overpass in Barangay Calumpang was installed to separate pedestrians from motor vehicle traffic to avoid road accidents. However, a lot of pedestrians choose to pass under the bridge rather than using the pedestrian overpass. Due to this observation, it is imperative to evaluate the existing pedestrian overpass in this highway on whether or not it is beneficial or if the budget provided for this pedestrian overpass was worth it. This study tried to find out the significance of pedestrian overpass in Barangay Calumpang. The most number of pedestrian based on the conducted pedestrian volume count who are using pedestrian overpass was to be 4 to 7 pm in the afternoon for both males and females pedestrians. Pedestrians using the pedestrian overpass have the highest average percentage with 53.74% (9,028). Pedestrians jaywalkers crossing from Jollibee to Savemore have a percentage of 20.79% (3,492). Pedestrians jaywalkers crossing from Denver Pharmacy to Western Oil Gasoline Station have a percentage of 25.48% (4,280). There are 80% pedestrian related accidents before the construction of pedestrian overpass while there arc 20% pedestrian related accidents after the construction of pedestrian overpass therefore the pedestrian overpass is effective to reduce the accidents caused by pedestrians. Pedestrian who travels along the intersection of IP Rizal street and National Highway in Barangay Calumpang want to cross the road safely because they want to avoid accidents, next is convenience because they are tired of climbing the stairs in the pedestrian overpass, next is comfort and last is accessible. Most of the pedestrian will use the elevator when it is operational. Specially the senior citizen and person with disability (PWD) who cannot climb the stairs because of there age and disability to walk. With these results, the local government unit should operate the elevator and roof in the pedestrian overpass so that many pedestrian can cross the pedestrian overpass comfortably and senior citizen and person with disability (PWD) can now access the overpass. Also, strict implementation of authority or laws on the pedestrian violators must be done.