MMDA lays out plan to ease traffic woes during Christmas season

MANILA, Philippines — To alleviate expected traffic congestion during the Christmas season, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will temporarily suspend road excavation activities and require shopping mall operators to submit traffic management plans.

MMDA Chairman Don Artes revealed this plan in a statement on Wednesday, which he said was backed by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), shopping mall operators, water, electricity, and telecommunications companies.

READ: Untangling traffic woes

Citing the latest data from the agency’s Traffic Engineering Center, 421,000 vehicles are traversing Edsa daily, as of September 24.

“We have to implement remedial measures to reduce traffic congestion as vehicle volume in Metro Manila increases during the holidays,” Artes said.

He added that the suspension of excavation activities within Metro Manila will start from midnight of November 18 until December 25.

Among the activities that will be halted are road reblocking works, pipe-laying, road upgrading, and other excavation works that may hinder or disrupt the smooth traffic flow.

However, flagship projects of the government, such as the DPWH bridge repair and construction, flood interceptor catchment projects, and emergency leak repair, among others, will be exempted from the directive.

Mall hours

He added that shopping mall operators will also be asked to submit respective traffic management plans to the MMDA for their respective mall sales and other promotional events two weeks before the scheduled dates of such events.

“Shopping mall operators in Metro Manila will begin their operations by 11 a.m., an hour later than the usual 10 a.m. opening time, starting November 18 up to December 25,” the statement reads.

“The closing of mall shopping hours will depend on the mall operators’ preference. But we encourage them to extend to give the public more time to do their errands and last-minute shopping,” Artes also said, adding that there are 131 malls in Metro Manila —29 in Edsa.

Moreover, deliveries by shopping mall operators will only be conducted from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. the following day, except for perishable goods such as food and ice.

Aside from these, the MMDA chair said that they would also ask the Department of Transportation to extend the public transport system’s operating hours, particularly the Edsa Bus Carousel, light-rail transit, and metro-rail transit, to accommodate late-night commuters and mall employees.