CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has appealed to farmers and rice traders in Central Luzon not to use national highways as solar dryers for their palay harvests to avoid road accidents.
This, amid reports that widened highways in the region have not benefitted motorists in some areas because farmers merely used the widened areas for more palay drying space.
“We have widened the national highways specifically the MacArthur Highway to facilitate smoother flow of traffic especially in major arterial roads and not be used as solar dryers for palay or corn” said DPWH regional director Antonio Molano Jr.
Molano lamented “farmers taking advantage of the good weather by drying up their palay or corn along the national highways and cordoning off road sections that were widened.”
“Worse, they put stones and barriers to protect their produce from being overrun by vehicles. The presence of big stones or boulders poses danger to motorists” Molano noted.
He also called on drivers of tricycles and motorcycles to likewise avoid using center lanes of the widened roads as “ they are slow moving vehicles and often do not have appropriate lights that are visible during night time.”
