Of the six choke points on Edsa that the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group (HPG) has been tasked with manning starting Sept. 7, the stretch in Cubao, Quezon City, is proving to be the most “challenging.”
The PNP head himself acknowledged this, as he was caught in the sluggish traffic flow in a portion of the stretch on the second day of the HPG’s redeployment to Edsa.
PNP Director General Ricardo Marquez made the rounds on Edsa on Tuesday morning, checking how HPG personnel were getting by at the choke points.
After finishing his inspection at the Balintawak market area, also in Quezon City, Marquez was heading southbound to Cubao when his convoy was caught in slow-moving traffic starting at the Quezon Avenue flyover.
Upon arrival at the Cubao underpass, the media asked Marquez his assessment of his trip from Balintawak, which took almost an hour.
“Perhaps, the most challenging choke point is not Balintawak or Pasay. We already decongested them. Perhaps, it’s the stretch from [the corner of] Kamuning until the Santolan flyover. That’s how long the Cubao choke point is,” Marquez said. He passed the Kamuning intersection on his way to Cubao.
Asked for possible solutions, Marquez said some bus stops may need to be relocated and some lanes closed off to private vehicles.
“Maybe, we need to give private vehicles just one lane because they are blocking the bus lane. That’s what we are studying. We will make the adjustments,” he said.
On the first day of the police deployment on Edsa, an official of the Quezon City Police District Traffic Enforcement Unit (QCPD TEU), which is assisting the HPG at the Quezon City choke points, noted that the choke points had their own “peculiarities” and would therefore pose different “challenges.”
While at the Balintawak market, only “a pure enforcement of traffic rules” was needed to smooth out the traffic congestion, Cubao had a “crossroad” where public utility jeepneys tend to idle, said QCPD TEU head Supt. Ely Pintang.
“At Aurora boulevard corner Edsa, jeepneys and buses don’t move forward even when the traffic light is on ‘Go,’ because they’re stopping [for passengers]. We recommend that there be a timer for them,” Pintang said.
After the first day, Marquez said “tactical adjustments” had been made, depending on a choke point’s needs, such as the relocation or removal of U-turn slots, or relocation of bus stops, like in Balintawak and Kamuning.
“There really are traffic engineering issues that we need to address. There’s a road in Balintawak which is being made into a shortcut and is causing bottlenecks. We may need to put a barrier there. Then there’s a U-Turn in Trinoma. If you’re coming from the west, then you make the U-Turn, you delay everybody going south,” Marquez said.
He said certain areas other than the choke points “contribute to the congestion” of traffic. “So our approach can’t include strictly Edsa only.”
Marquez, however, noted a change in the behavior of motorists with the HPG’s presence on Edsa. “Buses stay on the bus lane,” he said.
He said the public could not expect “magic” or instant changes on Edsa. “The volume of vehicles we are going to deal with every day is practically the same. Our mission objective is for people to obey traffic rules,” he said.
Other choke points on Edsa are Ortigas, Shaw Boulevard, Guadalupe and Taft Avenue.—Jaymee T. Gamil