Roadway Improvements in the Philippines

Tetra Tech completed feasibility studies, design, and independent engineering oversight of construction for 222 kilometers (km) of roads in the Philippines.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Secondary National Roads Development Project (SNRDP) reduced transportation costs and promoted economic development through rehabilitation of an existing 222-km road in Samar and Eastern Samar Provinces in the Philippines. The MCC retained Tetra Tech under a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) contract to perform feasibility studies, design the reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads, design drainage improvements, reconstruct bridges, stabilize landslide areas, and implement roadway safety measures. Tetra Tech also worked on construction-related impacts, minimizing environment and social impacts including resettlement activities. This project also is one of MCC’s early efforts to use global climate models to predict project risks.

Tetra Tech has distinguished itself by providing professional service, timely information, and high-quality documents under difficult and aggressive schedules. Tetra Tech has clearly demonstrated that it has the management capability and depth of resources to support USACE on multidiscipline-type projects and in locations throughout the world. The collaboration and harmony exhibited by USACE, Millennium Challenge Corporation, and Tetra Tech staff to complete this difficult project is an exemplary example of how projects should be performed.

USACE Project Manager, CONUS Interagency Branch

These secondary roads are critical to connect residents who participate in these regions’ primary economic activities—farming, fishing, trading, and tourism—to their local markets. The project sought to facilitate commerce between the provinces of Samar and Eastern Samar and increase local incomes by reducing travel times for both passengers and goods and achieving savings in vehicle operation and road maintenance costs. The project also integrated enhanced safety measures throughout the final road design. These features included constructing paved shoulders, sidewalks, and curbs in high-pedestrian activity areas; improving gateway treatments to note lower speed limits; and increasing the use of road narrowing, median islands, and traffic humps to slow down overall traffic speeds.

Tetra Tech evaluated climate-related risks and identified key climate-proofing measures such as developing project-specific design criteria for drainage infrastructure and sea level variations, improving hydraulic capacity and embankment protection at bridges, and enhancing roadway pavement and shoulder design to withstand flooding. In 2013 a portion of the roadway that was already completed withstood Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest typhoons ever recorded, and played a vital role in the region’s recovery. Tetra Tech’s work on the MCC SNRDP shows that implementing climate-proofing risk-management strategies contributes to the overall resilience of the project as well as its long-term sustainability.

Awards

  • The MCC SNRDP was awarded the American Council of Engineering Companies Silver Engineering Excellence Award, 2017