Proposed Miniature of Underwater Highway Tunnel from Malay Aklan to Boracay Island

Abstract

Boracay is one of the world’s top tourist destinations in the Philippines because of its beautiful white sand beach. Every year, thousands of local tourists and foreigners go to Boracay to visit and enjoy the beautiful view of the beaches covered with white sands and coral reefs. Boracay is 345 kilometers away from the south of Manila. It is an island located in the province of Aklan that is 7 kilometers long and 1 kilometer wide. Boracay is also famous for being one of the world's top destinations for relaxation. However, to go to Boracay, you need to ride a ship or rent a boat, which costs considerable money and time to go to the island and vice versa. Hence, researchers proposed a way to have transportation by constructing an underwater highway tunnel. The research method of the design utilized in this research is quantitative analysis. The participants of the study were limited to 10 5th year graduating Architecture students and 10 5th year graduating Civil Engineerstudents who assessed the level of acceptability of the proposed underwater tunnel highway in Malay, Aklan to Boracay Island in terms of concept, design, realistic aspect, and presentation. The assessment of the two groups of respondents obtained the composite means of 4.2 for the response of Architecture students, which was deemed as highly acceptable, and 4.3 for the response of Civil Engineering students, which was highly acceptable. In terms of concept, Architecture students obtained a value of 4.2, which was interpreted as highly acceptable. Engineering students obtained a value of 4.3, which was interpreted as highly acceptable. In terms of design, Architecture students obtained a value of 4, which was interpreted as acceptable, while Engineering students achieved a value of 4.2, which was interpreted as highly acceptable. In terms of the realistic aspect, Architecture students obtained a value of 4.4, which was interpreted as highly acceptable, while Engineering students achieved a value of 4.2, which was interpreted as highly acceptable. In terms of presentation, Architecture students obtained a value of 4.6, which was interpreted as highly acceptable, while Civil Engineering students achieved a value of 4.4, which was interpreted as highly acceptable. The results showed that the project can be improved, as follows: the materials must be improved to become increasingly durable, and the miniature must be stable to be used in case of emergencies, such as flood and earthquake. The design must also be improved for it to be increasingly realistic.