DPWH, What's With Repairing Undamaged Roads?

(SPOT.ph) Remember that time you saw a road in perfect condition getting repaved and causing traffic in your area? A few senators raised this point when they asked the Department of Public Works and Highways why this happens during a Senate hearing on the department's proposed 2024 budget Tuesday, October 12.

It's part of preventive maintenance and reconstruction, DPWH Secretary Manuel Bonoan said when he was told by Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa that works such as those could be a waste of taxpayer's money.

“Sabihin, 'Ano ba tong DPWH? 'Yung kalsadang ito matibay pa maganda pa binubungkal na. Tapos yung sirang-sira na kalsada doon, hindi ginagawa, hindi inaayos.' We've been questioning that. Kahit ako nagtatanong ako, bakit inuna itong sinira na okay pa 'man ito? Sinira na para ayusin tapos 'yung sa unahang part ng kalsada sirang-sira talaga. Dapat 'yun ang ayusin natin,” said Dela Rosa.

"There is a point when the road starts to deterioriate and it would be more economical actually to undertake 'yung preventive maintenance," Bonoan answered.

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DPWH on road repairs, even when the road looks perfectly okay

When rehabilitating roads and bridges, you don't wait for it to deteriorate deep into its base and sub-base, said Bonoan. By fixing the pavement right away, the base and sub-base remain intact.

"'Yung talaga deteriorated at bumagsak na ang base and sub-base, that's going to be reconstructed also. That's going to take mas malaking rehabilitation, reconstruction ang gagawin doon," he said.

"We have to prevent the further deterioration of the sub-base and base before anything else. We just have to replace 'yung running course lang."

Road repairs on undamaged roads 'go against' the senses

It's difficult for civilians to believe that a newly-paved road needs digging up and excavation when it looks fine as seen by the naked eye, Senator Koko Pimentel told the DPWH.

"It goes against the inputs of our senses 'di ba? Kita ng mata mo ayos pa eh, sasabihin sa'yo hindi sa ilalim bulok na 'yan. And yet may nakita ka naman na tunay na bulok na hindi naman inaaksyunan,” he said.

"Itong mga reklamong ito siyempre ang nagrereklamo d'yan, fresh pa sa memory n'ya na kagagawa lang nyan e, gagawin ulit?"

Asphalt roads are designed to last 15 years, while concrete roads can last 25 years, but it all depends on how used—or overused—the road is. The Philippines has one of the highest axle load limits in the world  at 13.5 tons, Bonoan said, and overloaded roads can result in damage or collapse. "The challenge is actually how to control" the load, which sometimes includes heavy-duty trucks, he said.

One option to prevent repairing and reconstructing roads more frequently is for the DPWH to lower the axle load limit, or in other words, lighten the carrying capacity of our pathways.  

"The longer economic life n'yan, the better for all because if we can spare money for public works construction, sa ibang lugar naman i-improve natin. Not the same road, the same highway, paulit-ulit na lang," Pimentel said.

"Value for money na tayo. We have no resources to waste."