More on flyovers

I just drove recently through four flyovers about eight o’clock in the evening from Talamban proper to Bulacao in this city. The trip took me only about 45 minutes, thanks to these structures which a group of Cebu “lovers” have maligned as ugly and ineffective means of solving the city’s traffic problems.

 Without flyovers the trip would have taken me an hour and a half or even two. You know how it was. Once you came to the intersections where these facilities now stand you had to wait for several minutes before you could get through because there were many vehicles from different directions trying to get to their lanes and onward. Now those vehicles whose passage bisected the through-street lane can do their thing underneath the structures with minimal impediments. Thus, the flow of traffic is facilitated. Most of those flyovers have side roads that are still unwidened, but even as it is, much improvement have been observed in the passage of vehicles.

 But the Movement for Livable Cebu (MLC) won’t buy the idea of building more flyovers. To them these elevated passageways are not the answer to solve the city’s traffic woes. It’s a kind of piece-meal solution, they say, not a holistic one. Thus, MLC talks of mass transit system, improved intersection design, provision for sidewalks, bike lanes and parks. Very impressive. What MLC has in mind is actually every Cebuano’s dream. Who wouldn’t like a mass transport facility? Who wouldn’t long for sidewalks and special lanes for bikers?

 Parks and playgrounds, of course, are a must. For a city of almost a million people, more open spaces for recreation and relaxation are needed. But what do we have today? Only Plaza Independencia (thanks to the city leadership for sprucing it up) and the Fuente Osmeña rotunda (if can call it a park) are available. Poor city dwellers! To catch a breath of fresh air they have to hie to beach areas or mountain lairs – if they can afford it.

 Sidewalks? It’s heaven for those who would want to explore Cebu City on foot. Those of us who have gone to Singapore, Taiwan, Seoul, Tokyo and other Asian cities cannot help but appreciate the well paved and tree lined pedestrian walks in those places. Why can’t we have these facilities in this Queen City of the South? You know the answer. No, it’s not money. It’s political will and the way things are it’s an impossible dream.

 MLC should be commended for dreaming. But development and socio-economic progress cannot be left to dreamers. One has to be pragmatic enough to realize that if nothing is done to the current traffic problem. Cebu’s economy will take a backseat. A business CEO for one does not sit in his office the whole day. He has to attend conferences, be present in ceremonies, visit local leaders and do other related things. But if he often gets stuck on the road because of traffic and does not make it to his appointments on time, could he say this city is business friendly?

 All Cebuano’s want their cities and municipalities to get economically uplifted. They know that productivity and development are the key to people’s opportunity for employment, and consequently to an improved quality of life. Why then are they at odds over flyovers?

 Viewed closely the conflict is between the pragmatists and the idealists. The proponents of the project and their advocates want an immediate and practical solution to the congestion in our streets. It’s a short range plan which although expensive still works to minimize the problem. The MLC people view the problem through their looking glass of a livable community whose milieu is conducive to healthful living, minus those ugly flyovers.

Who will prevail? Now President Aquino has tasked DPWH to study the possibility of road widening and traffic control in the areas where the two flyovers are to be built. Let’s wait and see what happens next.