One-way EDSA would need engineering works, pose safety issues —MMDA traffic chief

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) traffic chief Bong Nebrija on Wednesday said the proposed one-way EDSA scheme will need a lot of engineering works and pose safety issues.

Southern Leyte Representative Roger Mercado proposed to make EDSA a one-way street as a measure to solve the perennial traffic problem along the major thoroughfare.

“That's something really far-off because there would be lot of engineering interventions that should be done if we are implementing that,” Nebrija said in an interview on ANC.

If the major thoroughfare will be one-way southbound, Nebrija said Ayala flyover going to EDSA, Buendia flyover to EDSA and San Juan flyover from EDSA to San Juan, which are all northbound, will be useless.

Aside from this, Nebrija also raised the issue of safety in the proposal. He said driving a lefthand drive vehicle is not safe in a righthand drive setup.

“We are lefthand drive and you are telling me to drive the east side of EDSA on a different direction. That will create a safety issue for driving a lefthand drive on a righthand drive setup," Nebrija said.

In the Philippines, motorists use lefthand drive vehicles which have the steering wheel on the left side, driving on the righthand side of the road.

In August, the MMDA said the usual traffic woes on EDSA every Christmas season has already been felt.

According to data from the MMDA, the traffic volume in EDSA exceeds it daily vehicle capacity by 601%.

Over 380,000 vehicles are traversing EDSA every day when its actual capacity was only pegged at 54,000.

Cars make up for 66% of the traffic volume, 22% were motorcycles, and 3.48% were buses.

Various proposals have been put forth to help solve the EDSA traffic problem, among them, prohibiting private vehicles on EDSA during rush hours and implementing car brand coding. —Joviland Rita/KG, GMA News