One-way EDSA, Roxas, C-5 proposed to ease Metro Manila traffic congestion
How about turning Epifanio delos Santos Ave. (EDSA), Roxas Boulevard, and C-5 Road into “one-way-all-the-way” routes as a means of easing the condemnable traffic in the metropolis?
Samar 1st District Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento, a civil engineer by profession, came up with this suggestion on Friday, saying the scheme is similar to what is being done in New York City.
Sarmiento pointed out that the roads in Metro Manila are being used beyond their rated capacity. And with the construction activities lined up under President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program, he said, Metro Manila traffic is bound to worsen.
Since EDSA can no longer be widened, the solon said, it should be turned into a purely southbound superhighway from Caloocan to Pasay City with bi-directional service roads on its opposite sides for the exclusive use of a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS).
To accommodate northbound vehicles coming from Pasay City, Parañaque, and Cavite, portions of Roxas Boulevard passing through C-3 and C-4 would be also turned into a one-way highway.
Vehicles coming from Muntinlupa and Laguna going northbound to Quezon City, Bulacan, and Pampanga can use C-5 Road, which will be also turned into a purely northbound expressway, he added.
Sarmiento urged government traffic managers in the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Department of Transportation (DOTr), and the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (PNPHPG) to consider his proposal.
“Our traffic situation is a multi-dimensional problem that has evolved and accrued through the years. While other countries in the region opted for tenement buildings and railway systems, we followed the American model of bungalows and highways. So we cannot just blame one cause alone, like lack of discipline among drivers or the presence of colorum PUVs plying our roads,” Sarmiento said.
“EDSA was built in the 1940s when the population in Metro Manila was only 1.7 million. Seventyseven years later, the most needed infrastructure to support a rapidly growing metropolis and population – now totaling around 13 million in the National Capital Region – were never proportionately built for one reason or another,” he said.
Congressman Sarmiento added that it is better to consider drastic so- lutions than continue to lose 13 billion daily in economic productivity due to traffic congestion. Imposing a moratorium on the purchase of new cars or banning sales during weekdays is also counter-productive as this will limit economic activity, he added.
Sarmiento also called for a Bus Rapid Transit System to supplement the existing Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems.
He proposed that bus companies form a consortium and assign some of their buses to the system, which would be regulated by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).
“The BRT buses will follow a unified bus dispatching system. This will eliminate the problem of undisciplined bus drivers because there will no longer be competition or overtaking, since the different bus companies are already assured profit,” Sarmiento said.
Sarmiento said that he is also proposing that provincial buses should no longer be allowed to use EDSA and instead, terminals should be placed at its southern and northern ends to cater to provincial passengers.