‘Straight path’ to EDSA
The planned rehabilitation of EDSA is long overdue, and people are glad to see something being done about the worsening traffic condition of Metro Manila’s most utilized thoroughfare. Many portions of the 23- kilometer road stretching from Balintawak to Roxas Boulevard are in dire need of maintenance work with potholes, rough surfaces and uneven structures contributing to the horrendous traffic that plagues motorists and commuters every single day including Sundays.
Traffic gridlocks have become worse through the years, with the congestion choking the streets intersecting with EDSA, which services around 400,000 vehicles (and that doesn’t include colorum buses and shuttles). Babes Singson, who has been doing an excellent job as DPWH secretary, is taking on this gargantuan task that will take a year to finish. He certainly knows how important EDSA is, saying it can “make or break” the metropolis in terms of health and the economy due to pollution, wasted hours and lost business opportunities caused by traffic jams. As he rightly put it, a choked EDSA practically chokes the whole of Metro Manila.
Even so-called traffic czars have not been very successful in decongesting the expletive-inducing traffic not only in EDSA but almost all main arteries despite numerous creative methods that have been and are currently being implemented, like the number coding lanes. We have to hand it to MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino though who is relentlessly trying to reduce, if not totally eliminate, traffic congestion in the metropolis particularly EDSA through innovative solutions like motorcycle lanes and recently, a bus segregation scheme designating specific pick-up and dropoff points for passengers.
Tolentino is even trying to take on the pollution problem by opening up a two-way “bike lane” from Buendia-MRT to Magallanes-MRT. Similar bike lanes were also opened in Quezon City and Manila. People can leave their bikes and present a claim stub later from MMDA personnel manning the bike racks. “Shareable” bikes would be provided for public use, free of charge – simply by presenting a valid ID. We wonder however how long before the usual Filipino talent for magic “disappearing acts” come into play with the bicycles.
The fact is, Metro Manila roads have long been neglected with no real long-term solutions despite the increasing number of vehicles year after year. Notwithstanding warnings about public inconvenience for the duration of the EDSA rehabilitation, the MMDA should properly plan alternative routes to avoid what happened during the first phase of the SLEX skyway construction where travel time from Makati to Alabang took two hours because of poor planning. However, the next phase completed two years ago by DM Consunji was very well planned, taking careful consideration of traffic flow and volume.
Even the existing mass transport system is not enough due to the ever-growing population of commuters (many of them migrating to Metro Manila from the provinces). For instance, the MRT, which can hardly accommodate the over 600,000 passengers daily, now has its own “choke points” and peak “traffic” hours like the Ayala (northbound) and Cubao (southbound) stations where passengers wait for almost two hours to get a ride, jostling, pushing and shoving to be able to squeeze inside the cramped trains.
Clearly, additional infrastructure and more efficient public transportation systems will help address the nightmarish traffic and de-clog chokepoints. The SLEXNLEX road connector project of Manny Pangilinan’s Metro Pacific Tollways, which involves the construction of a 13-kilometer, four-lane elevated expressway from Caloocan to Buendia, is expected to ease traffic woes that millions of motorists experience every day. However, the massive project will be completed by 2016 – which goes to show that long-term projects, not quickfix solutions, are needed to get rid of the traffic congestion and minimize the pollution from vehicles.
One option is the bus rapid transit (BRT) system that, if we remember correctly, was already proposed during the time of President Cory Aquino. The proposal includes the systematic dispatch of buses (with automatic doors opening sideways for passengers to board or alight easily and quickly) from designated stations at specific times. A fixed compensation scheme for bus drivers was also proposed to make the roads safer because bus drivers working on commission basis will not have to race against each other for passengers. What ever happened to this proposal?
EDSA played a historic part during the 1986 People Power revolution that elevated Cory Aquino to the presidency – and 25 years later, her son is now president. Hopefully, this administration’s “straight path” will literally lead to an EDSA that will bring people “straight” to their destination without the perennial traffic that has been plaguing this major thoroughfare for so many decades.
We have been restraining ourselves from making any comment about the investigations being conducted on the alleged shootout (or was it rubout?) in Atimonan, Quezon. But as it is, people are getting more confused. Too many investigating bodies, too many talking heads all at the same time.
Authorities should have imposed media restrictions until facts were clear and the investigation fully completed. The situation is reminiscent of the August 2011 bus hostage crisis where confusion was the order of the day. Either Mar Roxas or Sec. Leila de Lima should take the lead and be the only ones authorized to brief media. Mar being the DILG head and one of the most trusted lieutenants of the President has an opportunity to shine. People are getting antsy and don’t know who to believe anymore. The bottom line is that something is very wrong with the situation here where people can be killed (gangland style) or rubbed out at will by anybody.