MMDA eyes uniform truck ban hours, opening of private roads to ease traffic

Local government units in Metro Manila and adjacent areas should have uniform truck ban hours, among other coordinated policies, to ease traffic jams especially during the Christmas season, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said Monday.

Victor Nuñez, director of the MMDA Traffic Enforcement Group, made the response after a traffic jam on Marcos Highway over the weekend left motorists stranded on the road for as much as six hours.

“The Local Government Units should have a coordinated traffic management plan. They should not formulate policies on their own. If there is a truck ban, then the hours of the truck ban should be uniform,” Nuñez said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

“LGUs also issue temporary permits for the conduct of bazaars during the Christmas season, which also factors in the traffic jam, coupled with the trucks which do not follow the truck ban. That is why we will be meeting traffic heads from Cainta, Antipolo, Marikina, among others tomorrow, to prevent that incident of huge traffic jams from happening again,” he added.

Likewise, Nuñez said subdivisions along Marcos Highway should also let their roads be used by the public at certain times to ease traffic woes.

“There are a lot of interconnected subdivisions along Marcos Highway. We would discuss with authorities that certain cars be allowed [to pass inside the roads of the subdivision] so that the entire Marcos Highway won’t be clogged. Unfortunately, there are security guards of private subdivisions who meddle with the traffic flow,” Nuñez said.

“We will also offer assistance in studying the positions of the U-turn slots, as well as calibrating traffic lights for the entire stretch of Marcos Highway,” he added.

EDSA vehicle volume surging

Nuñez said EDSA's situation is no better since MMDA recorded 429,000 vehicles on EDSA during the payday Friday last November 17.

“The daily average volume of vehicles on EDSA is just at 408,000, but by November, it already increased by 5%. We are expecting it to continue increasing as Christmas draws near,” he said.

“That's why we're always encouraging the public to ride the MRT (Metro Rail Transit) and bus carousel. They can get you to your destination quite fast,” he added.

In closing, the MMDA official also appealed to private vehicle owners to do their part by not parking on alternate or Mabuhay lanes.

“Let us not block the alternative routes,” he said.

Since November 17, malls have implemented adjusted mall hours of 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. instead of 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. to ease traffic woes during the Christmas rush. —KG, GMA Integrated News