With 31 malls near EDSA, Christmas traffic crawls

These days, you’ll be lucky if it takes you only an hour to drive the entire 24-kilometer stretch of EDSA from Caloocan City to Pasay City.   This year, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has deployed 500 more traffic personnel on EDSA to cope with the holiday rush, as the season brings not just good tidings but an additional 40,000 vehicles to Metro Manila's main thoroughfare every day as well.   This means each day, more than 360,000 vehicles go bumper to bumper along Metro Manila’s main thoroughfare.   The MMDA Traffic Engineering Center says the extra volume is a 12-percent increase in the average daily traffic along EDSA.     From the average travel time of 42 minutes on an ordinary day, the trip from EDSA’s northern tip in Monumento to the southern end on Roxas Boulevard slows to 57 minutes — or more — during the Christmas season, data from MMDA shows.   Travel time has increased by at least 35 percent.   Average travel speed also slows down by 23 percent during the holidays—26.7 kilometers per hour compared to the 34.49 kilometers per hour on an ordinary day based on MMDA figures.   The culprit: 31 malls, lack of loading bays   MMDA has built loading bays near mall concentration areas like EDSA-North Avenue and Ortigas Avenue,  but these two loading bays are no match for the 31 malls and shopping areas located within a kilometer from EDSA. These include SM City North EDSA and SM Mall of Asia, said to be among the biggest in the world in terms of land area.

  Among the seven major thoroughfares monitored by MMDA, EDSA could be the busiest stretch during the holidays because of these malls. The others are Marcos Highway, Road 10, Quezon Avenue, McArthur Highway, Commonwealth Avenue and C-50.   “The malls are considered trip generators. They prompt this big traffic towards and away from them,” said Professor Crescencio Montalbo of the UP School of Urban and Regional Planning. “This is the season when more people go shopping; it’s behavioral.”     The malls in Edsa are concentrated in the four commercial districts:

• Cubao
• Quezon City Central Business District
• Makati Central Business District
• Ortigas

Montalbo notes that local governments and mall owners may not have given a deep thought on traffic impact assessment before these malls were allowed to be built.   “Madami ‘yung 31 malls, and what adds to the problem is hindi naman in-sync sa traffic system ang magiging impact ng mga itinatayong commercial establishment,” he says.   Daily traffic volume in major roads soared by 70 percent in 10 years   Using MMDA-TEC data, GMA News Research finds that the average daily traffic volume along major thoroughfares in Metro Manila has increased by at least 70 percent from 2000 to 2010.   EDSA, which has the highest traffic volume among the major roads, recorded an 80-percent increase from 2000 to 2010.                         Montalbo agrees that the increase in traffic volume along major roads in Metro Manila is staggering, although he pointed out that the rise may be attributed to the proliferation of motorcycles. “As you know, mura lang at madaling magkaroon ng motorsiko,” he says.   The traffic volume could have been higher were it not for mass railway systems like the MRT and the LRT. The MRT alone, which plies EDSA, carries as many as 12 million passengers a month.   “The government must entice those using private vehicles to take mass public transport like the MRT or LRT to lessen traffic, para mababawasan ang mga gagamit ng private cars,” Montalbo says.   He notes that the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) should put in place a high-quality public transport system that would attract trip commuters and lessen cars on the road. “This can be done by developing a system that can make purchasing tickets easier and decreasing waiting time at the tracks,” he says.   25 kilometers of new NCR roads per year   A total length of 217 kilometers of national roads were constructed in Metro Manila from 2000 to 2011.   This means that every year, an average of 25 kilometers of national road were constructed in NCR.     Montalbo notes that the length of new roads in Metro Manila does not correspond to the increase in traffic volume.   It also did not help that the number of Metro Manila residents continues to increase. As of 2007, the population in the metro is close to 11.6 million, an increase of more than 16 percent from 2000.       “Limited road network may be a factor, ang liit ng increase, considering that there is observed intensity in the use of private cars and the need to have more trips,” Montalbo says.   MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino, citing data from a Japan International Cooperation Agency study, says around 3,800 buses ply EDSA daily when it could accommodate only 1,600.   Wanted: road projects   Except for those on Commonwealth Avenue, C-5 and Road 10, there are no widening or extension projects io the five to seven major roads in the metro as of October this year.   Most of the projects along Edsa are mere rehabilitation or pavement improvement. Most of the extension projects are along C5, which can be used as an alternate to Edsa.   “Definitely we can no longer expect an extension or widening project sa EDSA, kasi saturated na ang road na ito, fully built up na eh. Yung mga alternative roads na talaga ang ide-develop,” Montalbo says. — KBK/HS, GMA News