Much has been written about the traffic along EDSA, which is perhaps Metro Manila’s most famous (some would say infamous) thoroughfare. These include the unpredictability of congestion along this road. While it is hard to believe that traffic congestion is unpredictable for EDSA because very often it is congested, there are times when you just marvel that its free-flowing during the day or shocked that its packed with cars close to midnight. Last week, we experienced both predictability and unpredictability in the sense that we did expect EDSA to be congested near Ortigas (due to the dismissals of schools in the vicinity) but didn’t expect it to be packed during what we thought was “alanganin na oras” that was around 3PM.

EDSA northbound traffic taken at Guadalupe last October 1, 2018 at 3:30PM.

Interestingly, there was no congestion after Ortigas Avenue and we quickly made up for the time lost in the congestion we experienced from Gil Puyat Avenue. Is this another case of the phantom congestion where the simple disturbances in the traffic stream can create a ripple effect resulting in congestion? Or is this somewhat like an everyday thing? EDSA is not part of my daily commute so I am not so sure about the regularity of this situation but at least the weather didn’t factor in the equation. Heavy rains usually lead to flash floods along this thoroughfare, and these floods will definitely lead intense congestion.

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