Odd-even scheme also shelved
PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday suspended for a month the planned rehabilitation of Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) set to start on June 13, saying he wants more studies to be done to shorten the two-year rehabilitation period.
After the President’s announcement, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said the planned odd-even scheme on the 23.8-kilometer thoroughfare will no longer be implemented.
During the launch of the “Pamilya Pass 1+3 Promo” ticketing program for the Metro Manila elevated railways in Quezon City, the President said a lot of concerns had been raised about the rehabilitation program, adding new technologies and measures should be pursued to hasten the repair.
Marcos said some technologies have not been incorporated into the planning of the EDSA rehabilitation.
“Pause muna doon sa ating rehabilitation. Huwag muna nating gagawin dahil tinitingnan natin iyung cost benefit analysis (Let us pause the rehabilitation. Let us not do it yet because we have to look at the cost benefit analysis),” he said.
“Maganda sana kung maayos natin ngunit ang laking sakripisyo ng dalawang taon na masyadong mabigat at masyadong mahigpit ang traffic kaya pause na muna ‘yan (It would have been good if all is in order but two years would entail a bigger sacrifice, it would be too long and cause heavy traffic. Let us pause the program),” he added.
The President said he has instructed Transportation Secretary Vivencio Dizon and Public Works and Highways Secretary Manuel Bonoan to delay the implementation of the program for one month and come up with a “better way” and shorter rehabilitation plan.
“Bigyan natin ang sarili natin ng isang buwan. Pag-aralan natin itong bagong teknolohiya na nakikita natin. Gumawa tayo ng magandang plano. (Let us give ourselves a month. Let us study the new technologies and come up with a better plan),” Marcos said but did not divulge the new technology.
“Baka naman imbes na dalawang taon, magawa natin ng anim na buwan, magawa nating isang taon. Whatever it is, tingnan natin kung ano’ng available sa atin. Pero sa ngayon, maliwanag na maliwanag na napakarami ang mahihirapan (Instead of two years, maybe we can do it in six months, maybe we can do it in one year. Whatever it is, let us look at what is available to us. But for now, what is clear is many would suffer),” he added.
The President said the rehabilitation program, while necessary, is expected to result in more congested traffic, which could delay the travel time of commuters and motorists by one to two hours.
In implementing the rehabilitation program from 2025 to 2027, the government had planned to adopt the odd-even traffic scheme on EDSA and allow the use of a limited portion of the Skyway Stage 3 to mitigate traffic.
REVISIT THE PLAN
MMDA chief Romando Artes said the suspension is a chance to revisit the plan to ease the expected heavy traffic during the scheduled two-year rehabilitation of EDSA, the metropolis’ prime thoroughfare through which more than 400,000 public and private vehicles pass daily.
“Pursuant to the directive of the President, the MMDA will suspend the imposition of the odd-even scheme, which was part of the traffic management plan that was laid down, intended to decongest EDSA before the looming rebuild,” Artes said after Malacanang announced the suspension of the EDSA rehabilitation project.
“The postponement will give us time to look for other traffic mitigating options for the EDSA Rebuild, which will be less than burdensome to motorists and the commuting public,” he added.
The Department of Transportation earlier said heavy traffic is expected once the EDSA rehabilitation project starts until its completion in 2027.
Earlier, the MMDA said under the proposed odd-even scheme, vehicles with plate numbers ending in 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9 will be banned on the thoroughfare on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while those ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 will be prohibited on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
EDSA will be free for all types of vehicles on Sundays.
But Artes said the MMDA will continue enforcing the existing Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program or number coding scheme on EDSA.
