Last Thursday afternoon, as soon as I stepped out of the hotel where we held the three day seminar I helped organize, I observed that the traffic was moving excruciatingly slowly. Not wanting to go under the stress of driving in that situation, but at the same time desiring to experience how bad the traffic was, I hopped into a taxicab and engaged the driver in a hearty discussion.
I was quite lucky that the driver, a Mr. Dico, was an intelligent person. Our conversation helped provide answers to my societal inquisitiveness. He was more than just street smart. His repartee seemed to buttress his claim that he had a college diploma from a reputable university.
We observed that the vehicles stood still longer than they ran. And when we moved, we literally crawled for few meters then stopped again. For the entire length of less than a kilometer from the hotel to my humble home, we spent almost an hour to cover the distance. Whew! To make a comparison, we, traveling at an average speed, could have reached Catmon, Cebu.
Mr. Dico complained that there were just too many vehicles on the road. With not much space to share, we were forced to line up bumper to bumper. In addition to the regular taxi units and other cars, there were, the ubiquitous jeepneys, “multi-cabs”. He also pointed out to what he termed were surplus cars.
If only the multi cabs and surplus cars were removed from the streets, the road space would have allowed a smoother travel, Dico sighed. When I asked him why single out those vehicles, he argued that both classes have gone beyond their economic life for which reason, they are no longer allowed to run the streets of the countries of their origin. And he could not understand why we allowed them on our roads. Good point!
We both agreed that there are at least two things our city government can do to help ease our worsening traffic. First, it is time to widen our narrow streets. For instance, let us take the case of one of our older roads, D. Jakosalem Street. (Was it called Calle Norte America?) Many years ago, it served, quite luxuriously, as an alternative artery to the few running vehicles commuting between the city hall and capitol. It, still, does. But because it has been overlooked by city officials, who have exerted no apparent efforts to widen it, this street gets easily choked by the unimaginable volume of cars.
In our city, we must have a good number of urban planners. His Honor, Mayor Michael L. Rama, has to tap them and consult if widening the D. Jakosalem Street, would be helpful in lessening the occurrence of traffic woes in the same way as Mr. Dino and I, ordinary minds thought. If it should prove viable, let it be done from the corner of Sanciangco Street all the way to Gen Maxilom Avenue, certain as we are that when accomplished, it can be converted into a two-way road, enough to handle a good share of road users away from Osmena Boulevard.
Such streets as Sikatuna and Gen Echavez, if and when D. Jakosalem gets widened, have likewise to be expanded otherwise, the effort of making D. Jakosalem a bigger avenue would not achieve its desired maximum beneficial goal.
We came to the second thing, which is to open new roads. Curiously, Echavez Street stands to ease the traffic of Gen. Maxilom Avenue from Fuente Osmena towards the Cebu Business Park. This will be accomplished if, right where it now ends as Sikatuna, it is connected to the road fronting the F. Ramos Market and onwards to the Osmena Boulevard.
It is crucial that the new mayor puts these projects high in the list of his priority of things to do. Mr. Dico and I feel that the bourgeoning traffic difficulty is taking its toll not only in the modest means of livelihood of the ordinary people, but more importantly in the economic activities of both the city entrepreneurs and our visiting businessmen. The sooner the city administration addresses this problem the earlier we help our citizenry in our individual and collective income generation efforts.