Road widening projects aim to alleviate traffic congestion and bring about economic benefits in terms of transport savings. Utility obstructions along the widened highways inhibit the generation of these benefits. Moreover, obstructions inflict danger against the travelling public. In a recently widened highway in Rizal Province, Philippines, it was found that from 2017 to 2018, an average of around PhP 37,813,631.79 economic losses per year were incurred due to the obstructing utility poles within the roadway. These account for unrealized traffic decongestion benefits and vehicular crash costs.
The quantitative analysis for this study also confirmed that the cost of relocating obstructing utility poles is cheaper than the unrealized project benefits plus the costs of road crashes with obstructions. Thus, there is an urgent need to improve coordination between highway and utility sectors.