Drivers say M’daue rerouting causes congestion

Contrary to official claims, drivers in Mandaue City are saying that the experimental rerouting has worsened traffic congestion especially along  M.C. Briones Street.

Taxi driver Arnel Duarte, 53, blamed the  jam on the concentration of vehicular traffic to roads leading to J Center Mall in A.S. Fortuna Street.

“Kani wala pa gani klase kay traffic na unsa nalang kong naa na. Ma pasko ug dili traffic mani dinhi,” Duarte said.

(How much more if classes resume? Christmas or not, traffic in this area is not this heavy.)

“Wala palang na nila hilabti usa ang routa sa mga jeepney, dili unta mi ma traffic permi dinhi sa highway (M.C. Briones),” added Duarte referring to the rerouting that requires public utility jeepneys to pass through J. Centre Mall.

(Had they not tinkered with the route of jeepneys, there would not have been a concentration of traffic in the M.C. Briones.)

Jeepney drivers who asked not to be named told Cebu Daily News  “Musonod nalang mi para wala dakop, kay wala man pud mi mahimo.

(We will just abide so that we will not be apprehended.)

Yesterday at around 11  a.m. CDN sent a news team to check the  traffic condition along  M.C. Briones Street and experienced bumper-to-bumper traffic from the A.S. Fortuna junction up to the Cebu North Road in barangay Basak.

The rerouting has been implemented in accordance with City Council Resolution no. 12-786-2012 approved last November 09.

Among the rerouting’s objective is to make J Centre Mall part of the PUJ routes.

Traffic Enforcement and Management chief Edwin Ermac said last Wednesday the rerouting has been effective in decongesting known bottlenecks in the city and eliminated illegal terminals.

He justified the rerouting as an affirmation of the city’s policy of being business-friendly.

Rerouting he said has also been implemented before to bring commuters closer major malls and businesses in the city.

Ermac said the heavy traffic now is not due to the rerouting, but due to the Christmas season.

He however said that they may not finish the whole 60-day experiment, but may bring the new traffic scheme to another round of public consultation after 30 days.