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| Six years from now, we could be looking at a different image. |
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
There is no other image that perfectly represents the traffic state of Metro Manila, other than the view seen at the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA). The 23.8-kilometer highway serves as a bridge that connects the northern and southern parts of the metropolis, providing a strategic system of routes and travel for around 2.5 million vehicles passing through it every day. Part of the LRT and MRT lines also traverse the highway to give more efficient transportation for residents of Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
Despite this, EDSA has always been known for long hours of heavy traffic that leads to congestion and immobility of vehicles. Part of the problem lies with the heavy volume of vehicles in EDSA, especially in rush hours, giving headaches to motorists and sleeping opportunities to tired workers and students. The overall behavior of the drivers, especially a high number of those who drive public utility vehicles such as jeepneys and busses, makes the situation even worse by committing crimes such as illegal swerving, overtaking, and loading and unloading of passengers at the wrong places.
In an effort to solve the problem, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has considered constructing an elevated or tunnelled EDSA. Either way, the 50-billion peso project aims to provide more lanes for travelling, stretching from Roxas Boulevard to Balintawak. Sources say that the project is slated to commence at 2012 and have at least some of the sections finished within 6 years. After the road is finished, a toll system is planned to be implemented to cover for the costs of the project.
Call me Mr. Skeptical, but I am not buying this for one second.
First off, given the current traffic conditions at EDSA and the expected increase in vehicle volume brought by the rapid increase in population, especially in Metro Manila, can you imagine how much it can get worse once the building starts and continues for 6 years? It will take a massive rerouting system to keep headache and high blood pressure medicines from being a necessity for those who travel through EDSA. To make matters worse, air and noise pollution are bound to go up the longer the vehicles stay on the streets, making the everyday traffic situation at EDSA truly hellish in every way.
Second, why should the consumer for the 20th time pay rates similar to toll fees at NLEX or SLEX? As if the high prices of electricity, water, oil products, taxes, and every other consumer products are not enough. EDSA, as we know it, is a highway constructed by the government to give everybody a safe and fast route to navigate through. Besides, given that the current vehicle volume holds by the time the project is finished, imagine how much the government will earn from toll fees at EDSA alone. If say, the lowest toll fee is at P100, the government will earn P250 million … in just one day! You have to wonder just in what schemes do our honorable authorities plan to use all the money on? Do we want another busted deal like the NBN-ZTE scandal? The government will be repaid anyway with faster and more efficient transport of goods throughout Metro Manila, which always guarantees an increase in service quality and customer satisfaction, leading to a prettier image with foreign and local investors alike, boosting the economy of Metro Manila and, subsequently, the Philippines. There are so many ways with which the authorities can go with it; the toll system simply does not sound right.
Third, even with the low quality of infrastructure in the Philippines, the problem does not lie with the cracked streets or the uneven roads of Metro Manila. Instead of fixing something that is not completely broken in the first place, why not focus on the variable that ultimately determines the image that will be projected from EDSA to the world? Why not use the P50 billion on improving other social services, such as health care and education? Why not use the money on providing better jobs for some of the drivers in EDSA to reduce the number of vehicles in the highway and ease the traffic conditions in the area? Why not use the funding for educating drivers and passengers alike how to properly conduct themselves on the road? Why not use the resources to discipline those masquerading traffic enforcers and present the taxpayers with friendly and honest officers? Why not use these heaps of cash for loads of goodwill from the Filipinos, which may finally allow the Philippines to reach that elusive mountaintop?
Everything starts with doing the right thing. For the government, it begins with realizing that the negatives far outweigh the positives (which aside from a possibly better transport system 6 to 10 years from now, does not really exist), and so they should not push through with the elevated or tunnelled EDSA and use P50 billion for something else. For the ordinary man, it starts with proving to the men they themselves placed in the seats of power that, with being disciplined and law-abiding citizens, their voices of displeasure are truly justified.
What we need is the straight path, not an elevated one.
