10/09/2025
Congratulations Davao City🦅
Beyond Traffic and Rainy season: How Davao’s Coastal Road is Beating the Floods
Davao Coastal Road: Flood Control Meets Urban Mobility
Yes, Davao City’s Coastal Road isn’t just a traffic reliever—it’s a massive, multi-purpose flood control and coastal protection project. Here’s how it plays a vital role in flood resilience and urban development:
1. Storm-Surge Barrier & Coastal Defense
• Designed as a coastal bypass, the project doubles as a breakwater and shore protection system, defending against sea wave actions, storm surges, and coastal erosion   .
• It incorporates hexapods, seawalls, grouted riprap, and other shoreline defenses to reduce wave impact—a thoughtfully engineered coastline safeguard .
2. Integrated Roadway and Public Spaces
• The 4-lane highway (with asphalt pavement, bike lanes, pedestrian sidewalks, and a 25.54-meter full-width design) serves mobility, recreation, and safety purposes   .
• Includes linear parks, esplanades, and promenades perfect for walking, jogging, or biking—offering both functional and leisure value    .
3. Strategic Flood Resilience
• The elevated embankmented structure (approx. 6.5 meters on average), complete with drainage frameworks, helps mitigate flooding from coastal surges and heavy rains   .
• Though technically it doesn’t span rivers, its design contributes indirectly to reducing flood impact in adjacent areas—especially during storm surges.
4. Complementing River Flood Control Efforts
• Meanwhile, along the Davao River, DPWH is reinforcing revetment walls (in Baranguay Mandug) with structural sheet piles, concrete capping, and embankment fortification to control river flooding. These efforts are nearing 90–94% completion and are slated for wrap-up by Q4 2025    .
• These projects operate synergistically—coastal road handling storm surge, while river revetment mitigates overflow inland.
5. Timeline & Scale
• The 17.8 km coastal road (also called the Coastal Bypass Road) began in 2017 and is rolling out in phases, with major segments already operational    .
• The iconic Bucana Bridge (a 1.34-km, P3.126-billion extradosed bridge) linking coastal segments is under construction, with completion expected by late 2025  .
• Full project completion is targeted between 2025 to 2026, with approximately ₱28.5 billion already utilized and more funding pending for final works.
ccto
