Expert sees dead end for ‘one-way Edsa’ proposal

A scheme called “congestion pricing” is being studied as a way to ease traffic flow on the country’s busiest highway. —NINO JESUS ORBETA

A traffic expert thumbed down a lawmaker’s proposal to adopt a one-way traffic scheme for major thoroughfares like Edsa and C-5, saying Metro Manila’s road network could not support such a “drastic” scheme.

Primitivo Cal, executive director of the University of the Philippines Planning and Development Research Foundation, said copying a system like that in New York City could work only if there was a complimentary road network that could accommodate the displaced vehicles

“New York has two parallel roads. In the case of Edsa, what is the complimentary road which you can [dedicated solely] to northbound or southbound traffic? There’s none. So how would you implement that?” he said in a news forum on Monday.

Cal, a transportation and civil engineer who had served as a resource person for the Senate transport committee, also noted that the capital’s road network had varying travel patterns.

Last week, Samar Rep. Edgar Sarmiento suggested a “one-way-all-the-way” scheme on Edsa, C-5 and Roxas Boulevard.

Edsa, for example, can be dedicated to southbound motorists while Roxas and C-5 can be for northbound vehicles, he said.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority said the Metro Manila Council, its policymaking arm composed of the different mayors, would tackle the proposal in its meeting next week. —Jovic Yee