By DAVE S. ALBARADO
City officials in Tagbilaran are moving on various fronts to address chronic traffic congestion near Bohol Wisdom School, with a councilor rolling out a new traffic scheme and the city’s traffic chief going further — recommending the school consider relocating altogether.
The measures target gridlock along CPG North Avenue and surrounding streets, which has long plagued students, parents and guardians of Bohol Wisdom School and the nearby Victoriano D. Tirol-Advanced Learning Center.
The problem has grown more acute with an ongoing Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) project on CPG North Avenue and Peñaflor Street expected to worsen peak-hour traffic in the area.
Councilor Butchie Zamora, who discussed the scheme with Ardy Araneta-Batoy on the Open Forum radio program over DYTR, said signage is already in place ahead of the plan’s March 2, 2026 rollout.
The scheme will be enforced during three daily windows: 6-8 a.m., 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4-6 p.m.
Under the plan, vehicles traveling from Citi Hardware toward Bohol Wisdom School will be directed onto Estaca Street and routed to Peñaflor Street.
Estaca Street will operate as a one-way corridor toward Peñaflor, with Sto. Nino Street serving as an alternate route for motorists heading to Victoriano D. Tirol-Advanced Learning Center.
Private vehicles will not be permitted to stop on the side of the street opposite Bohol Wisdom School, though public utility vehicles may pull over to drop off passengers.
Parents who trust their children to cross independently may drop them off at Lino Chatto Drive.
To ease illegal parking in the area, Bohol Wisdom School has acquired a nearby lot for additional parking capacity.
The scheme will remain in effect until the DPWH completes its project, though officials said adjustments are possible and that the measures could be made permanent if proven effective.
The DPWH is also planning a pedestrian overpass near City Square Mall, with proposals to relocate it closer to Bohol Wisdom School to improve student safety.
Zamora said additional traffic schemes are being developed for the Plaza Rizal area, the Junction-to-Borja Bridge corridor and Dampas, targeting congestion caused by street markets and vehicle crossings.
He is also looking into traffic problems near the Cathedral area, where ambulant vendors have been identified as a contributing factor.
Despite the near-term fixes, City Traffic Management Office chief Tony Samante said Thursday that the congestion problem runs deeper than traffic schemes can solve.
“The parking area inside BWS often gets filled fast,” Samante said, adding that the school’s Booy location forces parents and school vehicles onto surrounding streets during drop-off and pickup — creating bottlenecks that enforcement measures have repeatedly failed to eliminate.
Samante formally recommended that Bohol Wisdom School consider relocating its campus, pointing to Holy Name University, PMI Colleges and Holy Spirit School as institutions that successfully moved from congested downtown areas to more spacious locations in recent years.
City traffic officials said compliance with existing policies among parents remains inconsistent, and that the congestion has raised safety concerns for students crossing nearby streets — a factor driving the proposal for a pedestrian overpass.
No timeline has been announced for a potential relocation, and school administrators have not publicly responded to the traffic office’s recommendation.