MMDA suggests four-day school week as EDSA travel projected to slow to 1-9 kph

INQUIRER file photo

Desperate times call for desperate measures. At the start of a two-day “Traffic Summit” organized by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino proposed a four-day school week as one of the measures to reduce traffic volume while major infrastructure projects get underway. Tolentino suggested the measure to the Department of Education, to cover students in all elementary and high schools in Metro Manila as a way to reduce the daily volume of commuters.

The prospects look bleak if the traffic authorities and local government don’t implement schemes to improve traffic flow in the interim. “1 to 9 kilometers per hour,” is the forecast of MMDA Traffic Engineering Center chief Noemi Recio of the average speed on EDSA if remedial measures are not taken. These may include rerouting schemes and adjusted work and school schedules. Recio said that without these measures, it might take a whole day for motorists and commuters to move through the 24-km Edsa end to end.

The MMDA listed a total of 15 projects that will start construction this year. This includes the Skyway Stage 3, a 14.8-km elevated road that will link Buendia, Makati City to Balintawak, Quezon City. Travel time is to be cut to 15 minutes along the planned highway. Construction along the Quirino Avenue area is to start on February 17.

Tolentino also suggested that schools use distance learning or “open university” schemes to reduce the need for students to travel to campuses daily. “I suggest that more learning institutions in Metro Manila adopt this open university system as a traffic-alleviating measure. Our objective here is to reduce the number of students going out on the streets, especially during rush hours,” the MMDA chief said.

“In an open university, you only have occasional face-to-face class sessions, you communicate through the Internet, so most of the time you only stay at your home. That’s a big reduction to pedestrian, commuter and vehicular volume,” he added. Skyway Stage 3 will affect the areas of 23 universities and colleges, as well as private and public elementary high schools along its route.

“Offsite campuses will help decongest student population in Metro Manila which, in turn, will redound to lesser volume of commuter, pedestrian and vehicular volume in our road networks,” Tolentino said.

The MMDA identified the other infrastructure projects lined up for construction this year as follows:

Naia Expressway Phase 2

Gil Puyat-Makati Avenue-Paseo de Roxas underpass

Sta. Monica-Lawton Avenue bridge

CP Garcia Avenue-McKinley Hill ramp

Repair and asphalt overlay of Magallanes interchange

Edsa-Taft Avenue flyover

MRT Line 3/ LRT Line 1 extension common station

LRT Line 2 East extension up to Masinag

LRT Line 1 extension (Cavite)

Edsa-Roosevelt Avenue interchange

España Avenue-Lacson Avenue interchange

Repair/rehabilitation and improvement of South Superhighway Makati

NLEx-SLEx connector road above the PNR alignment

Edsa-West Avenue-North Avenue interchange

Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, heads of the traffic committee of the Metro Manila Council, MMDA’s policy-making body, asked the project proponents—mainly the transportation and public works departments—and their contractors to present their respective rerouting plans.
With report by Jaymee T. Gamil, Miracar B. Brizuela