HPG to get tough on Monday

Palace: No heads will roll… for now

MANILA, Philippines - This week is just a warm-up; starting Monday, the police Highway Patrol Group (HPG) will get tough on erring motorists along EDSA.

HPG director Chief Supt. Arnold Gunnacao warned yesterday they would start issuing traffic violation tickets to private motorists who would enter and linger in the yellow lane reserved for buses along EDSA.

“What we are doing now is just to educate them. By Monday, we will strictly implement (the rules),” he warned.

Five days into its traffic management duties on EDSA, the HPG reported that it has managed to speed up travel time on the 23.8-kilometer thoroughfare by 10 to 15 minutes during rush hour.

Gunnacao announced several other measures that would be implemented to further ease traffic along EDSA, including reducing the number of U-turn slots.

He said the measures were approved at a four-hour meeting of the task force on traffic led by Secretary to the Cabinet Rene Almendras yesterday.

Others at the meeting were officials of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Department of Public Works and Highways, Land Transportation Office and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB).

The meeting was presided over by Almendras, who was appointed as the point man by President Aquino to solve the traffic problem on EDSA.

According to Gunnacao, the President was satisfied with the outcome of the traffic management by the HPG.

“With all those recommendations to ease the traffic in EDSA, the President wants immediate results. ‘I want results within a week,’ he said.

“So within a week we have the results – we were able to reduce the travel time. That’s progress and the President is satisfied with that. But we can still improve,” Gunnacao told reporters following a closed-door meeting with the task force officials at the MMDA main office.

Almendras earlier said the HPG had been effective in managing traffic in EDSA.

According the Gunnacao, the technical working group would be implementing several engineering interventions to further speed up traffic flow.

One involves the removal of U-turn slots that usually create traffic bottlenecks.

Gunnacao particularly mentioned the U-turn slot in front of the Trinoma mall in Quezon City, which he said should be removed.

Gunnacao said the technical working group observed the defects of U-turn slots, which date back to former MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando.

He added alternating traffic signal lights will be installed at the Pasay Rotonda area to prevent the crowding of public utility and private vehicles crossing from Roxas Boulevard to EDSA.

According to Gunnacao, EDSA at Pasay Rotonda has six lanes but on reaching the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) line, the lanes were reduced by half.

As for the HPG’s traffic management duties on the six chokepoints of EDSA, Gunnacao gives his unit a grade of two, with 10 being the highest mark.

“From one to two. We consider this for the past five days, at least the grade increased,” he said.

“So in five days we were able to attain the objective to reduce the travel time by at least 10 to 15 minutes. We are hoping that with these adjustments, in the engineering aspect, we will reduce it further,” he added.

Heads will roll, later

Malacañang hinted that certain officials who may be found to be remiss in their duties in dealing with and helping ease the worsening traffic congestion in Metro Manila will have to pay the price – at least administratively.

“Perhaps that can be a discussion for a later time. Right now efforts are concentrated on measures to alleviate the situation,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Valte made the remark when asked if anyone from the DPWH, the MMDA or local government units should be held liable for failing to implement measures to mitigate traffic jams.

For his part, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. assured motorists and commuters there will no longer be a repeat of Tuesday night’s horrendous traffic jams brought about by heavy rains that flooded the streets.

“The MMDA has carried out its responsibilities in terms of flood control and drainage in collaboration with DPWH that is the lead agency in implementing 20-year flood control master plan,” he said.

“MMDA has also been working with LGUs in clearing road obstructions. The severe traffic congestion that was triggered by heavy rains and flash floods clearly showed the inadequacy of existing road and flood-control infrastructure that will take time to be scaled up,” Coloma added.

“Traffic enforcers will also have to work doubly hard to improve their responsiveness such that, if last Tuesday’s situation recurs, normal traffic flow may be restored more expeditiously.”

Gunnacao, for his part, revealed operational kinks with the MMDA had been ironed out yesterday.

“We will be designating focal persons,” he said.

Gunnacao said the MMDA has committed 250 of its traffic constables to augment the HPG in managing traffic on EDSA, particularly in areas not covered by the six chokepoints.

Gunnacao added some 20 policemen from the Special Action Force would be added to the 150 HPG officers manning traffic on EDSA.

Gunnacao also said that HPG’s operating time on EDSA has also been adjusted.

“We start from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. If the traffic is still heavy, we will extend the time. We rest in the wee hours of the morning,” he said.

The HPG will also start clearing the alternate lanes or “Mabuhay Lanes” of obstructions in coordination with the various local government units.

“We will clear these Mabuhay lanes. On our own level, we will coordinate with the local government units to clear the way,” he said.

As for the flashfloods that triggered the massive traffic jam on EDSA, Gunnacao said submersible pumps have now been prepositioned in flood-prone areas.

Lawmakers suggested several measures to ease traffic in Metro Manila, including the building of a tunnel like in Malaysia.

Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo urged the government to build smart tunnels to ease flooding and traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

He said these structures should be similar to the Storm water Management and Road Tunnel (SMART) built by the Malaysian government in Kuala Lumpur.

He said SMART serves both as a motorway and a flood control facility.

Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, for his part, suggested the development of areas outside of the nation’s capital to decongest the saturated metropolis.

With traffic congestion along the roads of Metro Manila now becoming a major problem for the country, various solutions are being prepared to address this, including the development of more infrastructure.

More roads are being constructed to accommodate the increasing number of vehicles in Metro Manila as part of the long-term plan of the government.

However, Cayetano said this would not solve the problem because all of those vehicles would still remain in Metro Manila and its surrounding cities.

“The solution to the Metro Manila traffic problem is not to build more infrastructure inside NCR but to build more outside the city,” he said. –Delon Porcalla, Aurea Calica, Jess Diaz, Marvin Sy