page_title: Kennon Road
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Kennon Road / History
caption_attribution_description: Benguet Road construction crews setting explosives on a sheer cliff of the Bued River Canyon near Camp 5 in Tuba, Benguet
context_page_description: Kennon Road, also known as Rosario–Baguio Road, is a two lane 33.53-kilometer roadway in Benguet province in the Philippines connecting the mountain city of Baguio to the lowland town of Rosario in La Union province. The project begun in 1903 and opened for travel on January 29, 1905. Originally called Benguet Road, it was later renamed in honor of its builder, Col. Lyman Walter Vere Kennon of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is the second oldest road that leads to Baguio, after Naguilian Road, and the shortest route to Baguio for travelers from Manila and provinces in central and southern Luzon.
  The entire road forms part of National Route 54 of the Philippine highway network.
context_section_description: The construction of the road commenced in 1903 by cutting across the mountains of Benguet with the combined efforts of Filipinos, Americans, Filipino-Chinese and Japanese nationals.  It was considered one of the most difficult and expensive civil engineering projects of its day, with expenditures by the newly established Insular Government of the Philippine Islands in excess of US$2.7 million.
  More than 2,300 foreign and local workers worked on the road. Aside from Filipino engineers and construction workers and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers headed by Col. Lyman Kennon, foreigners from 36 countries were recruited to work on the road; the majority, at about 1,500 or 22%, were Japanese.  Hundreds of workers died from malaria while more plunged to their deaths while building the road.  After the road was completed, some of the foreign road workers decided to remain in Baguio to live permanently.
  The original road was a Macadam Telford-type road which was later improved into an all-weather asphalt roadway. More recently, some portions of Kennon Road have been replaced with concrete pavement.
  The highway was severely damaged by the 1990 Luzon earthquake that the Department of Public Works and Highways decided for the permanent closure of the road. The highway was proposed to be replaced by a road traversing through the town of Itogon on the way to the lowlands of San Manuel, but was met with criticism from the inhabitants of Baguio. Kennon Road was reopened for public use in September 1, 1991 after rehabilitation efforts were completed.
  On August 2018, the road was closed temporarily to traffic due to road repairs. However, on December 17, 2018, the alternative route to Baguio, which is Asin–Nangalisan–San Pascual Road, had opened to all motorists. The road reopened on November 29, 2019 to all motorists.
caption: Benguet Road construction crew near Camp 5, Tuba, Benguet ca1903 setting explosives into a sheer cliff of the Bued River Canyon.
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