NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE DEFLECTION SENSORS: CONTRIBUTION TO
THE SAFETY IN HEAVY TRAFFIC BRIDGES
Background of the study:
At the time of appraisal, road transport was the main form of transport in
the Republic of the Philippines, comprising 47% of national freight transport, and
78% of passenger transport. The Philippine government also set road sector
improvement and expansion as a major policy issue, since it recognized this as a
foundation of economic and social activities. In particular, an important role has
been played by the Manila North Road and the Philippine-Japan Friendship
Highway, which are major arterial roads connecting Luzon Island, pivoting on
metropolitan Manila in the north, with the Visayan Islands in the south. These
main arterial roads, including bridges, have been rehabilitated and maintained
through US financial aid since the 1940s, and through Japan’s ODA loans since
the second half of the 1960s; however, those rehabilitations and repairs were
mainly improvements and widening of pavement and reinforcements of drainage
facilities and small bridges. Large bridge rehabilitation was hardly done at all.
For these reasons, large bridges have aged and deteriorated remarkably,
with worsening traffic safety and efficiency due to damage from natural disasters
over many years. It was an urgent task to rehabilitate these bridges in order to
restore their functions and ensure the safety and efficiency of these socially and
economically important arterial roads. Deflection is a crucial consideration in the
design of a structure and failure to apply due attention to it can be catastrophic.
Different types of load can cause deflections. These include point loads,
uniformly distributed loads, wind loads, shear loads as well as ground pressure
and earthquakes, to name but a few.
According to Asian Development Bank, the poor quality of the road
network is a contributing factor to the rising number of road accidents. There
were 14,794 recorded road accidents in 2008, a 28% increase from 2007.
Deaths from road accidents in the first half of 2009 reached 624, which was 9%
more than in the equivalent period in 2008. These figures may underestimate the
severity of the road accident problem, because in counting road accident deaths
the Philippines uses a definition of death as occurring within 24 hours of a road
accident, whereas the internationally accepted definition is death occurring within
30 days of an accident. In addition, it is estimated that only about 10% of road
accidents are officially reported, although these are likely to include many of the
most serious accidents. In 2005, the national cost of road accidents in the
Philippines was estimated at $1.9 billion, equivalent to 2.8% of the country’s
GDP. According to the Department of Health, in 2008 road accidents became the
fourth leading cause of death in the Philippines.
With rapid urbanization expected to continue in the Philippines, urban
transport infrastructure will be put under increasing pressure, thereby posing a
major risk of further deterioration in the mobility of urban populations. The
planning and development of new public transport terminals that integrate
different modes of public transport would help to mitigate many of the problems
currently associated with urban transport, thereby reducing the costs of urban
mobility and improving the economic productivity and competitiveness of urban
areas.
In particular, an important role has been played by the Manila North Road and the Philippine-
Japan Friendship Highway, which are major arterial roads connecting Luzon Island, pivoting
on metropolitan Manila in the north, with the Visayan Islands in the south. These main
arterial roads, including bridges, have been rehabilitated and maintained through US financial
aid since the 1940s, and through Japan`s ODA loans since the second half of the 1960s;
however, those rehabilitations and repairs were mainly improvements and widening of
pavement and reinforcements of drainage facilities and small bridges. It was an urgent task to
rehabilitate these bridges in order to restore their functions and ensure the safety and
efficiency of these socially and economically important arterial roads. In 2005, the national
cost of road accidents in the Philippines was estimated at $1. 9 billion, equivalent to 2. 8% of
the country`s GDP (Asian Development Bank, 2012). According to the Department of
Health, in 2008 road accidents became the fourth leading cause of death in the Philippines.
With rapid urbanization expected to continue in the Philippines, urban transport infrastructure
will be put under increasing pressure, thereby posing a major risk of further deterioration in
the mobility of urban populations.
References:
Asian Development Bank. (2012). Philippines Transport Sector Assessment, Strategy, and Road
Map. https:// www.adb.org/sites/default/files/institutional-document/33700/files/philippines-
transport-assessment. pdf
Department of Health. (n.d.). Leading causes of Mortality. https://
doh.gov.ph/Statistics/Leading-Causes-of-Mortality
