DAVAO CITY—As an initiative to promote fitness and healthy lifestyle among Dabawenyos, the Davao City Sangguniang Panglungsod (City Council) has approved an ordinance that provides for a car free Davao City Coastal every Sundays from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.
Davao City Councilor Conrado Baluran, the committee chairperson of the City Council Committee on Transportation and Communications, and proponent of the ordinance said this was from the request of Davao City Sports Development Division for its physical fitness program.
Under the ordinance the stretch of the Coastal Road from Crossing Bago Aplaya to Crossing Tulip Drive will be closed from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. every Sundays starting November 30.
Within the designated date and time Dabawenyos are allowed to utilize the lanes of the coastal road along with its parks for their leisure and fitness activities.
The northbound lane will be for jogging, running and walking while cycling activities will be designated at the southbound lane.
While leisure and fitness activities will also be allowed at the Bago Aplaya Esplanade and the Gulf View Esplanade
Security personnel alongside Emergency Medical Response units will be deployed during that time.
The Davao City Coastal Road which incorporates jogging and bike lanes has been a popular venue for fitness enthusiasts who would go to the stretch for jogging, running or cycling activities.
It has also been a site of large sporting events, one of these was the Davao 2024 Ironman 70.3 held earlier his year.
Mikey Aportadera OIC of the Davao City Sports Development Division said they are expecting hundreds of Dabawenyos to enjoy the car-free coastal road.
“Before we made this into an ordinance many are using that, they traverse along the coastal road, this car free road was made exclusively for that purpose, we expect probably hundreds of people to go to that road,” Aportadera said.
They are also eyeing to extend the car-free Sundays to the whole length of the Davao City Coastal Road if it will be completed.
Aside from the coastal road they are planning to utilize the many parks and green spaces of Davao City for their Aktibo Dabawenyo program that aims to inspire and properly guide Dabawenyos to get into fitness and regular exercises. (PIA/RGA)
