Just when I thought I’ve experienced the worst traffic jams along Ortigas Avenue Extension (De Castro to Junction) last year, I am greeted with even worse congestion along Marcos Highway as 2012 began. I have featured this highway in previous posts first on August 24, 2011, then in September 2, 2011, again in September 13, 2011, and then as late as December 18, 2011, as I have been able to basically monitor the progress of pavement “re-blocking” and drainage works along this highway (I live in a subdivision along the highway.). The project stretches from the Santolan area near the Marikina River to Masinag Junction, and affecting traffic in at least 4 cities (Quezon City, Marikina City, Pasig City and Antipolo City) and 1 major municipality (Cainta). The problem, it seems to me, is that the contractor seems to be behind schedule and is now trying to make up for lost time by practically digging up entire sections of the highway without first finishing the job in other sections they have already started rehabilitating. In fact, there are sections that already have new concrete pavements that are still inaccessible to traffic despite already over 2 weeks of curing time! The concrete barriers preventing vehicles from using these sections occupy about a fourth of the adjacent lanes, contributing to the reduction of what is already limited road capacities for the high volume of traffic along Marcos Highway.

I am aware of the traffic management plan for the highway as it is posted online at the DPWH website. But this is something that is on paper (or online) and one that seems to have been thrown out the window given the discrepancies with what’s on the plan and what we actually see and experience on the ground. The current work along the highway has effectively turned the stretch from Filinvest East to Santolan into a sort of slalom or obstacle course that has led to much inconvenience to commuters and motorists. Factor in the wasted fuel and the resulting emissions due to the congestion and you have economic losses piling up everyday.

I took the following photos I took one late weekday afternoon only this week as I traveled from Masinag to Imelda Avenue. The photos clearly show the work in progress along the highway that has been that main cause of congestion throughout most of the day.

Beginning of section being rehabilitated with work concentrated on a middle lane in front of the Marian Memorial (funeral) Chapels along Marcos Highway. Note the barriers on either side of the lane and the heavy equipment. Notice, too, the few people working on this section. Vehicles will have to split into two streams, one on either side of the affected lane.

End of the lane mentioned in the previous photos. There is a gap between this affected lane and the next one (start is indicated by the red barrier downstream in the photo) allowing vehicles to weave along sections between work sites.  The pick-up in the middle of the photo is doing just that – shifting from the shoulder lane to the median lane.

This is again the end of the section Unfinished section is flooded due to the sudden rainfall that afternoon in the area. Many sections have already been filled with base layer material and compacted. However, I am wondering why the contractor has not poured concrete when I reckon it has already taken enough time for consolidation of the base layer. From the same photo above, you can see the beginning of another section under rehab, but this time two lanes (inner lanes) are closed to traffic on one side of the highway. There are 2 other lanes also closed to traffic on the other side of the median island.

Despite the completion of re-blocking for the median lane, it is still closed to traffic. Meanwhile, it has taken a significant amount of time since they dug up the middle lane shown in the photo and where the section should have been ready for concrete but with the water collecting after the sudden rains that afternoon. Notice the hazards posed by the concrete barriers along the highway.

Section along the westbound direction of the highway and across from Town & Country subdivision shows 2 lanes affected by the pavement rehab works and only 2 lanes available to traffic.

It is really quite difficult to offer solutions in this case considering so much work still to be done in order to meet the March 28, 2012 deadline posted on the project billboards along the highway. For one, I do not know exactly what the reasons are for the delay of the project (perhaps a delayed release of funds?) and why the contractor has been unable to deliver according to schedule and plan considering the amount of time that was available to them. I do notice that there seems to be not enough people working on the project and that there seems to be no one working during certain times of the day when traffic is supposed to be lighter and fewer people to inconvenience. I did write that the contractor was doing a decent job in managing traffic before including their good use of counterflows. That was months ago and it seems that the saying “you are only as good as your last performance” applies in this case where people will be scrutinizing the current state of traffic along Marcos Highway.

People do expect though that the combined efforts of the MMDA, local traffic enforcers from Pasig, Marikina and Antipolo, and personnel from the contractor to make a bigger effort to ease (manage?) traffic congestion during the critical periods. It’s very frustrating and disappointing, however, that instead of managing traffic or facilitating flow, most enforcers seem to be engrossed with enforcing the number coding scheme alone. This seems to be the case for Pasig and MMDA enforcers posted at Ligaya and the Metro East vicinity. Perhaps number coding should be the least of their concerns when traffic is already constricted because of their failure to manage the jeepneys clogging the Ligaya area as well as what seems to be a breakdown in the coordination among these enforcers and the contractor of the rehab works along Marcos Highway.

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The severe traffic congestion experienced along Ortigas Avenue Extension these days are due partly to civil works related to a water project. This is similar to works that were implemented along Marcos Highway that coincided with the road widening and drainage project along that Highway. Ortigas Ext. traffic is always bad during the weekdays due to the limited capacity of the road combined with the sheer volume of traffic it has to carry. The highway still serves as the primary artery connecting the populous and progressive towns of Rizal Province to Metro Manila. These include Antipolo City and the towns of Cainta, Taytay, Binangonan and Angono. I’ve written a piece about traffic along Ortigas Ext. as well as the management schemes that have been employed to address peak period congestion including allowing counterflow traffic on weekday mornings. Following are a few more observations and assessments

Civil  works in the middle of Ortigas Ave. Ext. in the De Castro Subdivision area – road capacity is substantially reduced along significant sections of the road due to waterworks project. Both eastbound and westbound traffic are affected as one lane each are taken up by the project. Traffic flow will surely improve once the project is completed, automatically adding two lanes (one for either direction) to increase capacity.

Sunday jam – I can only imagine how bad traffic congestion can be during the weekdays. The photo above is one I took on a Sunday afternoon showing congestion along the westbound direction typically associated with peak period traffic on weekdays. Meanwhile, traffic is practically free flowing on the eastbound side once you get past the work area across De Castro. I was a little surprised about the discipline of drivers considering only few (mostly motorcycles) dared to counterflow.

More diggings – this time 2 lanes are taken away from the wide section of Ortigas stretching from across the former Riverside Mills to the BF Metal Corp. This is where vehicles usually make U-turns because of the space available for vehicles making such maneuvers that are no longer allowed during most periods past the vicinity of Cainta Junction.

Approach to Cainta Junction – this is probably one of the most congestion or saturated intersections outside Metro Manila. Most traffic though can be attributed to Metro Manila as most vehicles are either bound for MM or are coming from it. At this Junction, Ortigas Ext. meets Imelda Ave. (formerly known also as Francisco Felix Ave.), which continues as A. Bonifacio Ave. as it extends to towards Cainta town proper. Ortigas Ext. from the eastbound approach has only 2 lanes (another 2 on the opposing direction) widening to 5 (additional lane for right turning traffic to Cainta) at the entry. Meanwhile the westbound approach from Antipolo/Taytay also has 3 lanes with one dedicated to right turning traffic, which is significant due to left turns being disallowed from the eastbound approach towards Imelda Ave. Vehicles now go through Ortigas and take a U-turn after the junction and then turn right to Imelda. At the median opening, Ortigas has been widened to allow for such maneuvers.

Cainta traffic and the MMDA has been experimenting on a number of schemes for the signalized junction. One proposal that has been on the shelf for quite some time now is for an overpass to be constructed along Ortigas to allow for continuous traffic flow along the highway. So far, there just seems to be not enough space for an overpass to be constructed and some quarters are saying that the only way to improve traffic really is to widen Ortigas to something like Marcos Highway on the other end of Imelda Ave. Such propositions could have been averted if a mass transit system was constructed along this corridor when congestion was just starting to set-in. Actually, history tells us that there was a mass transit system before with trains running regularly between Manila and Antipolo. But that is a topic we’ll reserve for another post. Abangan!

Motorists and commuters using Marcos Highway which connects towns in the Province of Rizal to Metro Manila (particularly Marikina, Pasig and Quezon City) typically experience severe congestion due to two bottlenecks. These are at Santolan in the general area of the LRT 2 Station and near the junction with Evangelista Street, and at Ligaya near the junction with Amang Rodriguez/J.P. Rizal Avenues (note that the road intersecting with Marcos Highway is known as Amang Rodriguez on the Pasig side and J.P. Rizal in Marikina). Even without the current road and drainage projects being implemented on both sides of the highway, severe congestion is experienced in these areas.

There are mainly two reasons for congestion. The first is the operation of public utility vehicles, particularly jeepneys, in these areas. The second is the traffic flow characteristics, particularly merging and weaving activities, along Marcos Highway. Undisciplined operations of jeepneys in both areas have always led to congestion as they have tended to occupy significant road space (say 2 or 3 lanes) as they compete among themselves for space and for passengers. This generally results in the reduction of road capacity as there are less lanes available for all other vehicles traversing the highway. Chaotic loading and unloading have also influenced commuters to also compete for their rides with people often found advancing to meet up with the approaching jeepneys, and occupying road space in the process.

In the case of Santolan, people occupy 2 lanes just after the junction with Evangelista street right after the bridge. Such results in usually 2 to 3 lanes available to motor vehicles. Combined with jeepneys stopped across the LRT2 station, only 2 to 3 lanes are effectively available to traffic along a stretch of the highway. I always wonder why the MMDA and Pasig City enforcers are always appear to be helpless against these people when the former should be preventing the latter from occupying road space and causing congestion that can reach as far as Aurora Boulevard along and also fill up the bridge from C5.  The situation is very similar for Ligaya where Pasig-Marikina jeepneys tend to establish informal, on-road terminals at the intersection itself and clogging both sides of Marcos Highway. Again, people are everywhere and occupy road space, ensuring that only a couple of lanes are usable for general through traffic. Here also, there seems to be enough enforcers from the MMDA and Pasig City but I always observe them not doing their jobs of managing the traffic and preventing mayhem in the area.

From the perspective of traffic flow, these two areas also have weaknesses. Santolan is already located in the vicinity of an LRT2 station so it is a natural stop for both public and private vehicles. Complicating its situation is the fact that for the eastbound side of the highway, two major streams merge. One comes from the highway bridge fed by both Aurora Boulevard and Maj. Dizon (Industrial Valley), and another comes the Macapagal Bridge that connects to C5. Since the general direction of most vehicles are towards Rizal, there is tremendous weaving activity in the area causing much friction among motor vehicles. On the westbound side of Marcos Highway, there is the tendency for divergence of traffic flow again due to the two bridges plus the presence of an SM Mall whose access road is to the right of the ramp leading to Macapagal Bridge. Again there is weaving activity here that has caused not a few road crashes.

The Ligaya junction used to be a signalized intersection that was closed and replaced by a pair of U-turn slots sometime during the past dispensation at MMDA. Thus, vehicles that used to go through Rodriguez/J.P. Rizal are now required to take a right turn and weave towards the U-turn slots a few meters downstream and weave again to take a right to Rodriguez or J.P. Rizal. Many of these are public utility jeepneys, the same ones that have informal terminals at the intersection itself. Vehicles negotiating the U-turn slots tend to block through traffic as they maneuver towards the outer lanes of the highway and head for the intersection, resulting in daily congestion at the already widened section of the highway in the vicinity of the U-turn slots. The morning case is usually the more severe one and there are usually no traffic enforcers in the area between 5:30 and 6:30 AM. If there happens to be a few early birds from the MMDA and Pasig, these seem to be more concerned with setting up the barriers for the counterflow scheme they implement in relation to the road and drainage project along the highway. Pasig enforcers do not manage the traffic but seem to be engrossed in apprehending those violating the number coding scheme. During the evenings, they are unmindful of the congestion and the people spilled out and occupying the traffic lanes seemingly content on watching vehicles crawling by.

These bottlenecks along Marcos Highway are examples of situations where simple traffic management in the form of active enforcement would be enough to alleviate congestion and perhaps help reduce the potential for road crashes (that may also result in more congestion). The enforcers’ presence and absence in these cases seem to add insult to the injury that is already caused by congestion that can be solved if the enforcers were doing their jobs in the first place. I would not even consider the relocation of the U-turn slots or the criticize the flaws of the design of the bridges’ ramps because the weaving behavior of vehicles may be effectively addressed by proper traffic management. And there are many similar cases throughout Metro Manila and other Philippine cities where this is happening. Hopefully, the agencies or local governments can address such concerns and with urgency considering the time and fuel wasted due to such bottlenecks.