MANILA, Philippines—To ease the perennial gridlock on Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) may soon move its two U-turn slots away from the gates of schools in the area.

MMDA General Manager Robert Nacianceno, who inspected the area on Thursday with MMDA Chair Bayani Fernando, said they were studying their options while coordinating with officials of Miriam College and Ateneo de Manila University.

“We’re trying to see what we can do. We can adjust the U-turn slots in deference to the entry and exit points of Miriam and Ateneo or add to that; or maybe it should be the schools which should adjust their entry and exit points,” he said in a phone interview.

Nacianceno said that by moving their U-turn slots, they would avoid creating traffic bottlenecks near the gates of the schools.

The two MMDA officials conducted an inspection of Katipunan Avenue after receiving complaints from hundreds of motorists who were stuck in traffic for several hours Thursday.

Nacianceno explained that the situation was due to the opening of classes this week and the additional 50,000 vehicles passing through the area with the opening of the new elevated U-turn slot on C-5 Road.

Aside from moving the U-turn slots, he said the MMDA would also ask officials of Miriam and Ateneo to move their vehicle checkpoints further inside their campuses.

This would prevent the line of vehicles waiting to be inspected from spilling into the avenue, he added.

Nacianceno said they would also ask the schools’ management to allot part of their property for the establishment of a loading/unloading bay for students.

“There are students who ride on passenger jeepneys on C-5. There should be a place where the jeeps can load or unload them without interfering with traffic. It’s also for their students’ safety,” he added.

At the same time, he appealed for understanding from the public as he noted that the officials of both schools were now “more open” to changes than before.

“(This will be solved) maybe in one or two weeks. It will depend on how long they will agree [to our suggestions.] It’s a matter of adjustment,” he said.