Colon Street

Colon Street, Cebu City. May 2011.

Colon Street is a crowded street in downtown Cebu City that is often called the oldest and the shortest national road in the Philippines. It is named after Christopher Columbus. It traces its origins to the town plan by Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the Spanish conquistador who arrived in the Philippines to establish a colony in 1565.

Colon, a bit run-down now, was the site of fashionable shops, offices and movie houses. It was once the heart of Cebu City's shopping and business activity, but in recent years much of this activity has shifted inland to uptown areas.^[1]

In 2006, the Cebu City Council proposed a plan to close parts of Colon street from vehicular traffic and convert it to a tourism zone.^[2] However, this was met with much opposition from businessmen and motorists due to concerns regarding security and parking spaces.^[3]

References

1. ^ Cebu City: Colon and the Parian. Accessed March 7, 2007
2. ^ Colon Street eyed as special tourism zone - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos. Accessed March 8, 2007
3. ^ Closing Colon a big challenge - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos. Accessed March 8, 2007