METRO Manila Development Authority officer-in-charge Thomas Orbos said Monday he was optimistic lawmakers would grant emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the traffic gridlock in the metropolis.
“I am hopeful but it is up to them [lawmakers],” he said.
Orbos agreed with the proposed measures by the Japan International Cooperation Agency on restudying the gateway of airports and relocating the Manila North Harbor and other government facilities from Metro Manila to the provinces to ease traffic.
“All these things are now being considered by the MMDA,” said Orbos who was appointed by President Duterte on Aug. 19 as MMDA general manager and concurrent officer in charge, replacing Emerson Carlos.
“Personally, I think we need to move even high- density institutions outside Metro Manila,” Orbos said.
Seven choke points along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and the roads leading to Manila the North Harbor were in the list of traffic-prone areas named by the MMDA as immediately needing resolution.
The Jica study says the traffic in Metro Manila causes an estimated productivity loss of P2.4 billion a day or more than P800 billion a year.
But Orbos disagreed with the proposal to reimplement the “odd-even scheme” introduced by his older brother, then Transport Secretary Oscar Orbos, as one of solution to ease the traffic in Metro Manila.
Oscar Orbos was the Transport secretary during the time of President Corazon Aquino.
“This [odd-even] scheme is no longer applicable nowadays because many things have changed,” Orbos said.
“We need to have a unified scheme throughout Metro Manila. The solution to traffic nowadays needs to be dealt deeper.”
The MMDA ceased to be the lead agency managing the traffic in Metro Manila after Transport Secretary Arturo Tugade formed the Inter-agency Council on Traffic or I-ACT where Police-Highway Patrol Group chief Antonio Gardiola Jr. was designated to head it.
The team is composed of the MMDA, HPG, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board and the Armed Forces.
The MMDA says the seven choke points along Edsa were the Balintawak Market Road, Aurora Boulevard, Ortigas Avenue, Shaw Boulevard, Guadalupe, Ayala Avenue and Taft Avenue, as well as the roads leading to and from the Manila North Harbor Area, especially Circumferential Road 3, A. Mabini, Dagat-Dagatan Avenue, North Bay Boulevard and Radial Road 10 or R-10.
The choke points in Southern Metro Manila are the major roads leading to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport terminals (particularly Airport Road, Domestic Road, Andrews Avenue, Tramo Avenue, Sucat Avenue and Sales Road) and the Alabang-Zapote Road and Circulo del Mundo Avenue.
The choke points in the northern part of the metro are Rizal Avenue, Samson Road, Gen. Malvar Street, McArthur Highway, Karuhatan Road, Gen. De Leon, Pio Valenzuela and Gen. De Jesus.
The choke points in the eastern part are Santolan, Gil Fernando Bridge, Marcos Highway, San Juan Intersection,the Pasig Intersection and Meralco Avenue.
The choke points in Quezon City are Boni Serrano Avenue, Araneta Avenue, Timog Avenue, E. Rodriguez Avenue, Katipunan Avenue, C.P. Garcia Avenue, Magsaysay Avenue, Capitol Intersection, Luzon flyover, J.P. Rizal, the Ayala Heights Rotunda, the Miriam Gate and Ateneo Gate.
In Manila, the critical traffic areas are Bonifacio Drive, Roxas Boulevard, España Boulevard, Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard, Jose Abad Santos Avenue, Claro M. Recto Avenue, Senator Osmeña Highway and Rizal Avenue and Carriedo.