Traffic lights on Katipunan to be turned off, replaced with cops

File photo of Katipunan Avenue when it still had U-turns in place. Some of these were closed and replaced with traffic lights.

First was the removal of U-turns. Next was the return of traffic lights. Now, the traffic lights are to be deactivated, replaced with traffic constables. Starting Monday, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will turn off the newly installed traffic lights on Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City during the weekday morning and afternoon rush hour to ease heavy traffic in the area, especially on the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) campus.

In an interview during the agency’s weekly Sunday radio program, MMDA Chair Francis Tolentino announced that he would deploy additional traffic constables to direct vehicular flow on the busy thoroughfare with the shutdown of the traffic signals between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. from Mondays to Fridays.

For the rest of the day, “these traffic lights will remain operational,” he said.

Cris Saruca, MMDA Traffic Discipline Office head, told the Inquirer that they would override the two signal lights to speed up traffic flow, particularly for vehicles not entering ADMU or Miriam College.

“Zipper lanes will also be opened on the northbound lane from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. on weekdays,” he said.

Tolentino clarified that they would try out this traffic scheme for a few weeks and “in case, it creates more traffic problems, we will adjust it again.”

The two traffic lights were installed earlier this month on Katipunan Avenue—one near ADMU Gate 3 and the other near Miriam College Gate 1—as the MMDA closed down four U-turn slots between the Aurora flyover and C. P. Garcia.

This, however, has further worsened vehicular flow in the area, particularly on the ADMU campus with parents complaining that it now takes them an average of 30 minutes just to get out of the grounds after dropping off their children.

With report by Maricar B. Brizuela