MMDA: ‘Bikini island’ right cut for busy QC crossing

CURVES THAT CURB BAD DRIVING. The MMDA-built “bikini island” in Quezon City seeks to ease the congestion that has long plagued the Edsa-North Avenue intersection. RAFFY LERMA

There’s a newly formed “bikini island” at the Edsa-North Avenue intersection in Quezon City, and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) thinks it’s just the right cut for a smoother traffic flow in the area.

The MMDA said the triangular, curvy-sided island should increase vehicle speed in the busy crossing by 25 percent as it would limit U-turning vehicles from North Avenue—mostly passenger jeepneys—to just two lanes, keeping them off the lanes meant for vehicles coming from Edsa going to Monumento. Without the “bikini,” as the agency called it, the encroachment always clogged traffic on both thoroughfares.

Without the “bikini island”, drivers tend to make wider U-turns and encroach on other lanes. RAFFY LERMA

MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino said the road improvements in the area, which were completed in the first week of January, also included the adjustment of bus separators, the removal of some unloading bays and other modifications on U-turn slots.

“The center islands were removed because they constrict the flow of vehicles. And based from simulations we did last month, the travel speed improved by 24.86 percent,” Tolentino explained in an interview last week. “The three curves of the bikini island are also expected to reduce the number of accidents in the area.”

The U-Turn slot after the MRT North Avenue station will be utilized for vehicles going to North Avenue only and not for those going to Quezon Avenue. Another slot in front of SM City mall will be made for vehicles going to Muñoz and Monumento.