It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was a time for brand new roads, a time for tire-eating potholes. A time for smooth and logical traffic flow, a time for inexplicable traffic jams. A time for a smile as you punch the accelerator, a time for cursing as you shut off the engine while idling in the middle of a highway.
This is the tale of two cities I drive through almost every day: Marikina and Quezon City. These two cities have a common border somewhere behind Ateneo de Manila, in the Loyola Grand Villas area. Yet the driving experience cannot be more different.
Marikina was not even a city until 1992. Before then it was just a municipality, famous for its craftsmanship in shoemaking. Indeed, you will find several giant wooden shoes garnished with lights floating on the Marikina river. They symbolize what Marikina aspires to be: a modern manufacturing and residential center with a clean and healthy environment. The banks of the river itself are ablaze with light, a jogging path marked out along its banks. And so are its streets well lit, with street names clearly indicated-in reflective paint, no less. Clear, thoughtful management is evident here-of course street signs need to be reflective; otherwise, they’d be useless half the time, and in the half that’s more dangerous, too.
New roads have been opened: the access road to Loyola Grand Villas going out to Balara, the road through San Mateo leading to the Batasang Pambansa area. One road will soon be opened linking the main Marikina road of A.Bonifacio / Sumulong Highway to C-5. Floods still persist but have been greatly reduced, and new pipes draining water from the roads to the rivers are being put into place.
Meanwhile, what does Quezon City give us drivers? How about a huge traffic jam on the intersection of C-3-A.Bonifacio, simply because the traffic lights are off? The jam stretches in all four directions to the North Expressway tollbooth, Rizal Avenue to the west, and Araneta Avenue to the east. Travel time to traverse about 500 meters: one hour. And this is on a Sunday. Try that on a weekday. The same condition persists for weeks because no one seems to care that this is happening. Now multiply that by the number of intersections similarly affected: Araneta Avenue – Quezon Avenue. Quezon Avenue – Roosevelt Avenue. EDSA – Roosevelt Avenue. And where else can you see that on EDSA, our most critical highway, five out of the six lanes are unusable because of unloading of vegetables for the Cloverleaf market?!
Granted, Quezon City has a much larger road network than Marikina, and many more vehicles pass through the city daily. This is no excuse, however, for the lack of any genuine improvement in the past three years. Even main roads on which cars and trucks travel at high speed are dangerously unlit-try A. Bonifacio, a main link to the North Expressway. Or the Katipunan Road-Garcia intersection, near the U.P. area. No streetlights in sight. Or Araneta Avenue between E. Rodriguez and Quezon Avenue–there are streetlights in place here, but they’re NEVER ON!
We are not singling out Quezon City as some sort of Seventh Circle of Driver’s Hell in the Philippines. Many of our cities are similarly delinquent. Neither is Marikina perfect. However, the effort to improve conditions in Marikina clearly stands out against the inaction and indifference being exhibited by the Quezon City government.
There are just a few simple requirements for safe, efficient and enjoyable driving, and we urge all mayors in the Philippines to invest a fraction of their hard-earned revenue on granting these requirements. Whatever you spend for these will surely be paid back by increased efficiency (and revenues), a decrease in accidents and illnesses due to pollution and the goodwill of your constituencies-always useful in an election:
- Well-maintained roads. Roads that are free from floods, potholes and illegally parked vehicles.
- Smooth and logical traffic flow. This means that buses and jeeps don’t block all lanes except one just to load and unload passengers.
- Design alternate routes and close off certain intersections whenever possible. If you can’t spare the traffic enforcers, TURN ON THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS!
- Adequate lighting, particularly in intersections.
The public who travel on these roads-which is practically all of us-will be very grateful.
By Redline | Photos by Redline and Tamago
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.