Campaign posters of incumbent Dagupan Mayor Belen Fernandez block a broken traffic light from view at the intersection connecting MH Del Pilar and Perez streets in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. PHOTO AND COMPOSITE BY LUISA VILA DE GUZMAN
(Editor’s Note: In light of the last presidential debate before the 2016 elections being held in Dagupan City, Pangasinan, members of the Inquirer Volunteer Corps from PHINMA-University of Pangasinan have written articles on the pressing issues their city and province are facing, in the hopes that the next president of the Philippines will listen and take action.)
Second of a series
At Dagupan City’s main intersections, broken traffic lights and blocked signages add to the commotion of jeepneys and buses stopping and going without care.
MH Del Pilar-Perez, a major intersection leading to Calasiao town, and AB Fernandez-Arrelano, which leads to the town proper, each have 12 stoplights lining connecting streets. AB Fernandez-Arrelano, on the other hand,
When Inquirer volunteers walked along the aforementioned streets, campaign posters and tarps now covered street names and warnings, aggravating the situation further.
Reactions to the broken stoplights and blocked signages are mixed among bus and jeepney drivers who regularly pass through both intersections. Joseph P. Isaac, a driver with Five Star Bus Co., said in an interview with Inquirer Volunteers that there was no problem with the lack of working traffic lights in these intersections.
“There are a lot of traffic enforcers already in Dagupan,” he said. “Even without stoplights, they are still able to facilitate traffic.”
Other jeepney drivers, however, agreed that the traffic lights should be restored in order to ease traffic in the intersections.
Worsening traffic
Dagupan, a chartered city, has a population of 163,676 (according to 2010 census) and a total land area of 4,008 hectares. This growing population, along with a recent economic and business boom, contributes to the worsening vehicular traffic in the city.
In an interview with Inquirer volunteers, Dagupan city engineer Camilio Cayabyab said getting these traffic lights to function was very important so that traffic bottlenecks will be lessened, especially in major intersections.
“Without stoplights, vehicles go straight inside the middle of the intersection, or what we call the ‘yellow box.’ That’s where bottlenecks happen because vehicles do not give way to each other,” he explained.
“We can avoid these bottlenecks if we have traffic lights because we all know that when there are stoplights, you have to follow the rules they set so the roads remain safe,” he added.
During the interview with Cayabyab, he stated some reasons behind the broken traffic lights, which locals often joke about.
“Because the wires are underground, rats end up chewing through them,” he said. Other sources of damage include rotting food waste and flooding.
The stoplights at the M. H. Del Pilar-Perez and AB Fernandez-Arellano intersections were first built in December 2001, during the term of then Mayor Alipio Fernandez. They were later fixed during the term of his successor, former Mayor Benjamin Lim, but the repairs did not last long. The last time they were fixed was four years ago.
More campaign posters block a sign pointing to Arellano Street in Dagupan City, Pangasinan. PHOTO AND COMPOSITE BY LUISA VILA DE GUZMAN
Expensive, but needed, repairs
Asked why restoring these stoplights were set aside for the past few years, Cayabyab cited the expensive repairs needed.
But this year, the city government office has finalized plans to improve the traffic management system in Dagupan. Included in the plans are the upgrading of pedestrian lanterns to LED bulbs and the removal of posters and tarps covering the stoplights.
“Mayor Belen Fernandez wants us to repair the existing traffic lights and upgrade them, so that we’re not left behind by the new technology,” he said. In total, he added, there were stoplights in five intersections that needed to be fixed.
The plans are expected to be implemented after the national elections on May 9, 2016. The local office, however, could not furnish to Inquirer volunteers a copy of the plans pending the mayor’s final approval.
“Dagupan is now one of the country’s highly urbanized cities and its population is growing,” Cayabyab stressed. “We really need to implement the traffic light system for the safety of all Dagupeños.”