There are two kinds of pedestrians… the quick and the dead.
— Scottish whisker distiller Thomas Robert Dewar
Late last month, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) inaugurated yet another footbridge on Visayas Avenue in Quezon City in front of the Maria Montessori School.
As of mid-2026, the MMDA has constructed and completed at least 140 pedestrian footbridges across Metro Manila. According to the agency, these structures were made to provide a safer means for pedestrians to cross busy streets.
However, some of these footbridges were done with controversial designs, to wit, there are notably along the Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) that are notorious for being steep and difficult to navigate, particularly for senior citizens and persons-with-disabilities (PWDs) and even pregnant women or people carrying heavy baggages.
And to think that these steel and concrete pedestrian crossings typically cost between P5 million and P16 million each to construct, with an allocated budget of over P231 million between 2019 and 2023.
In any event, the footbridge on Visayas Avenue has indicated to us that the MMDA continues to push for car-centric, anti-pedestrian infrastructure despite knowing that these structures exclude those unable to climb stairs and have no real safety benefits.
Allow me to point some critical aspects about them.
Generally, footbridges are built in order to remove ground level (also referred to as “at grade”) pedestrian crossings so that cars don’t have to slow down or stop for people. Yet, in a country where only about six percent of Filipino families are car owners, footbridges are fundamentally unjust.
Footbridges force the vast majority of us to have longer and more laborious travel in order to shorten trips for the privileged minority who ride conveniently in air-conditioned cars. But it remains that footbridges without ramps limit the mobility of the significant segment of the population unable to climb stairs.
According to the Global Street Design Guide, “footbridges have long been considered ‘bad practice’ and unsafe.”
In the meantime, pedestrian overpasses and underpasses also pose as a problem in Metro Manila as they take up sidewalk space, dramatically increase walking distance and are frequently avoided by pedestrians in favor of a more direct crossing.
Added to this, they are very expensive and need regular maintenance to keep them clean and safe. In many cases, they are underutilized and poorly maintained. Like the one in the Plaza Lawton area where the underground passage is so dirty and at times is frequented by “undesireables” who intimidate passersby.
The MMDA should now realize that by removing pedestrians from the natural surveillance of the street, they have raised personal safety issues.
The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP), a leading source of mobility advice and best practice, found that many pedestrians avoid using footbridges because they are unable to climb stairs, are unable to walk long distances or are concerned about crime. Many are deterred from using footbridges because of fear of being attacked or mugged there, especially at night when it might be dark and deserted.
For these reasons, even when a footbridge is nearby, some take the risk of running across the road, even without the protection of a pedestrian crossing.
It is therefore a false assertion that footbridges contribute to road safety.
Footbridges are not only a magnet for crime, the “hostile design” of pedestrian bridges encourages many to just cross at-grade, without the protection that a normal pedestrian crossing would provide.
Those who are unable to climb stairs are left with no option but to cross the many car lanes to get to the other side. In a study of two Indian cities (Pune and Erode), ITDP found that 85 to 95 percent of pedestrians continue to cross at grade despite the availability of the pedestrian bridges.
More than this concern, drivers also tend to be less aware of pedestrians when they are passing within the vicinity of pedestrian bridges because they assume that no pedestrians will be crossing the road. As a result, pedestrian bridges have been associated with much higher rates of road crashes.
In Mexico City, 27 percent of crashes involving pedestrians and hit-and-runs were within 300 meters of a pedestrian bridge. In Nairobi, 43 percent of crashes involving pedestrians were within 500 meters of a pedestrian bridge.
But does the MMDA know the fact that footbridges that have stairs instead of ramps or elevators violate Philippine laws (e.g., Batasan Pambansa 344, the Accessibility Law) which require all public infrastructure to be accessible for persons-with-disabilities?
Such footbridges are therefore illegal structures. The accessibility requirement was very much in the minds of legislators when they included the following directive among the Special Provisions in the 2022 budget of the Department of Public Works and Highways:
“Pedestrian crossings shall by default be at grade for the inclusion of persons-with-disability, senior citizens, pregnant women, children with strollers, tourists with luggage and parents with children, consistent with public health and safety regulations.”
In any case, while MMDA may claim that the footbridge was requested by the nearby school, it should have chosen the most safe, inclusive and cost-effective option for pedestrians.
A speed table (a hump that has a large flat surface, also known as a raised crossing) would have been the best solution because motor vehicles would be forced to slow as they approach the pedestrian crossing. The advantage of the speed table is that it provides a flat surface that is level with the sidewalk on both sides of the road. This enables the crossing to be friendly for PWDs by eliminating steps and allowing persons with strollers and wheelchairs to cross the road smoothly.
Additionally, while the MMDA may claim that a speed table will slow down motor vehicles on Visayas Ave., it chooses to ignore Republic Act 4136 (The Land Transportation and Traffic Code), which imposes a maximum speed limit of 20 kilometers per hour “through crowded streets, approaching intersections at ‘blind corners’, passing school zones, passing other vehicles which are stationary or for similar dangerous circumstances.”
We look forward to the day when the MMDA will value the lives and welfare of pedestrians over the travel speed of persons in cars.
FOR your comments or suggestions, complaints or requests, just send a message through my email at cipcab2006@yahoo.com or text me at cellphone numbers 09171656792 or 09171592256 during office hours from Monday to Friday.
Thank you and mabuhay!
