The recent announcement and launch of the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (SEMME) included this map showing the (very) rough alignment for the proposed tollway. The map also shows the proposed locations of interchanges including one in Tikling and another in Masinag. There is also another in Tumana. From the looks of this, the SEMME will be a skyway or elevated expressway/tollway.

My first impression is that this elevated tollway will pass through predominantly residential areas with columns rising from private subdivisions. It doesn’t help that the topography also means the columns will be built along hilly or mountainous terrain, thereby making construction more challenging than the elevated tollways in Metro Manila.

Do we really need another circumferential road and particularly another tollway? I think that is a very important question that not only needs to be asked but also answered the right way. I, for my part, don’t believe we need another tollway, elevated or not, as this will not solve the so-called traffic problem. In fact, it creates more problems than what is supposed to be solved with the induced traffic this will generate and its promotion of car-centricity. For the price and effort of such an infrastructure, you will get more bang for your buck with a mass transit line or lines. Road congestion can only be solved by constructing the public transport system we needed decades ago.

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