Elevated structures such as railways, flyovers, bridges and footbridges shall comply with the latest minimum vertical clearance requirement of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
DPWH Secretary Rogelio L. Singson has issued Department Order (D.O.) No. 53, series of 2016, updating the standard vertical clearance above overhead structure to ensure sufficient clearance of tall vehicles passing underneath roadways.
Under D.O. 53, vertical clearance above the roadway shall not be less than 4.88 meters over the entire roadway width to which an allowance of 0.15 meter shall be added for future additional road surfacing.
Pedestrian footbridges over roads on the other hand shall be 0.30 meter greater than the vertical clearance to reduce the risk of truck impact against pedestrian bridges which have low load capacity.
Minimum vertical clearance shall also be provided below the coping at locations where portion of the carriageway is underneath the coping (e.g., intersections, U-turn slots) to allow safe passage of vehicles.
The clear height/headroom between the pedestrian bridge walking surface and the bottom of the girder of the structure above it shall not be less than 2.0 meters.