Two more urgent yet less expensive projects to do
It has been reported that Cebu City is about to implement the Bus Rapid Transit in its attempt to address the herculean traffic problem of the city. The funding part of it is reportedly being taken care with the signing of loan documents. Soon, we shall see a flurry of heavy equipment units working on the planned stretch starting from the south district and cutting thru the midtown all the way up to Talamban. The introduction of the BRT into our city, albeit quite late and long overdue, is drummed up as a major solution to our woes and if only for this, we must doff our hats for our leaders.
Shortly after the announcement of the projected implementation of the BRT, our honorable congressman of the north district, also reported that he has filed a bill for the development of a subterranean kind of a public transport system. If we should thank our city officials for the BRT, we likewise should appreciate our representative for coming up with a concrete measure notwithstanding that it has taken him almost three decades (repeat, almost thirty years) to imagine of something with which to grapple with the city's vehicular grid lock.
While we are entertained by the thought that somehow our leaders are trying to move heaven and earth to make our city travel less stressful, let us remind them that there are certain basics that they might have over looked. When I say basic, I refer to those road projects that they have to do because failing to undertake them may still render the BRT and the underground transport less impactful than how they are presented.
1. Let us take, as our first example, the block bounded by Osmeña Boulevard, Escario Street, Gorordo Avenue, and General Maxilom Avenue. Viewed from the sky, Osmeña Boulevard and Gorordo Avenue may be taken as parallel streets and they are linked with each other via the General Maxilom Avenue, on the southern perimeter and Escario Street, northwards. In the same vein, General Maxilom Avenue and Escario Street may also be considered parallel streets.
This is a very big block. As it is, a resident of say, someone living near the Perpetual Succour Hospital who plans to go to a place near the Cebu Gospel Church, has a long route to take. The area of this block is so wide that it can accommodate a road to connect Osmeña Boulevard and Gorordo Avenue. Such a connecting street may be built somewhere in the middle of the parallel streets of Escario and General Maxilom.
2. Here is another scene. The block bounded by V. Rama Avenue, B. Rodriguez Street, Osmeña Boulevard and P. del Rosario Street (then N. Bacalso Avenue) is just as wide as the first example. There is doubt that this area is so full of inhabitants that it has become a congested place. Its population is teeming beyond imagination.
Of this block, V. Rama Avenue and Osmeña Boulevard, may be considered as parallel roads, yet their linking roads being P. del Rosario Street (and N. Bacalso Avenue), on the southern end and B. Rodriguez Street on the northern periphery are distant from each other. A resident of Uytengsu Street who plans to go to the Securities and Exchange Commission office has no direct road to V. Rama. He has to take a circuitous way. A resident of Uytengsu Street who plans to go to the Securities and Exchange Commission office has no direct road to V. Rama. He has to take a circuitous way.
The construction of the BRT, if it comes, will not solve the traffic problem of the two situations I mentioned above. On the contrary, the travel woes of these areas will be compounded. Their present respective parallel roads will even be more constricted with the introduction of the BRT such that the example of trips I laid out above will be made more difficult.
I hope that our leaders take a second look at the problem I just cited. While they are excited to push thru with the BRT and the underground road network, they may find building these connecting roads mentioned here less expensive yet urgent project to undertake.
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