Home » Traffic flow
Category Archives: Traffic flow
Complicated intersections in Rizal – Tikling Junction
There are several major intersections in Rizal Province. Among them are 3 junctions in Cainta, Taytay and Antipolo – Cainta Junction (Ortigas Ave Ext.-Felix Ave), Masinag Junction (Marcos Highway-Sumulong Highway), and Tikling or Kaytikling Junction. The first two are signalized intersections. The last one is supposed to be a roundabout. All three are problematic in various ways and have been associated with congestion along the major roads intersecting at these junctions.
Tikling is quite interesting as traffic seems to have worsened after it was set up as a roundabout. Taytay enforcers have been deployed here but they seem to contribute more to worsening congestion rather than easing it. Motorists familiar with the area will tell you that traffic is better when there are no enforcers. Unfortunately, not all motorists here are from the area or are familiar with the rules for navigating or positioning at a roundabout. And so the intersection is often constricted with vehicles whose drivers and riders don’t practice courtesy.
Perhaps a combination of geometric improvements and more clever enforcement/management can improve intersection performance?
–
Traffic congestion along EDSA
I’ve taken some photos of EDSA traffic as well as the EDSA Carousel buses. Here are the more recent EDSA photos I took as I traveled from Makati to Quezon City after serving as a panelist in the Energy Transitions Dialogue last Wednesday.
I took this photo as we passed Guadalupe. I like this in the sense that it shows the clear ROW for the EDSA Carousel buses. One wonders why most of these motorists would prefer to drive their vehicles rather than take the bus or the MRT.
You can see in the photo that EDSA’s northbound side is clogged as far as the eye could see. If you check the image under the MRT bridge, it shows the southbound side was also congested. These photos were taken around 4 PM so this was still an hour before most people would be going home from work.
I mentioned in my comments at the panel that one consequence of giving number coding exemption to electric and hybrid vehicles is that this further diminishes the effectiveness (is it still effective?) of the MMDA’s number coding scheme. I don’t have the stats of how many EV’s and hybrids are registered and running in Metro Manila. Those numbers combined with actual counts will tell us how they are impacting traffic. That would be a nice topic for a paper. 🙂
The photos pretty much describe the transport situation in Metro Manila. Many of our major cities will be heading this way unless they improve their public transportation fast. If they do, then public transport mode share will be sustained if not increased. Metro Manila’s is already being eroded by inefficient public transport, motorcycles (including taxis) and perhaps unintentionally, electric and hybrid vehicles.
–
Flash floods in Quezon City
The rains poured again this afternoon and it was quite intense for more than an hour in Quezon City. We had floods at the UP campus and along Katipunan Avenue. Reports from various sources stated that there were also floods along EDSA and other major roads in the city. The floods come at a time when QC flagged flood control projects undertaken by the DPWH without the city’s blessings.
The flash floods were probably proof of the shoddy work associated with DPWH and its contractors. While QC residents and the LGU should share the blame for these, the scale and frequency of the floods indicate drainage issues.
The floods have led to intense traffic congestion and commuters being stranded due to public transport vehicles not being able to turn around. The latter is one of the cases where public transport appears to be lacking. Their numbers may not be lacking at all but the traffic conditions prevent their turnaround to address the demand for transport.
–
On the need to rethink traffic metrics
While Level of Service (LOS) criteria is a concept that can be applied to many other transportation facilities and aspects, among the LOS criteria that have been the subject of much criticism (and perhaps rightfully so especially in the context of safety) are the ones used for intersections. These are associated with delay reduction, which always favors vehicular throughput. The latter means basically, high LOS corresponds to prioritizing car (or motor vehicle) movement while not particularly taking into consideration the safety and movement needs of other road users (not using motor vehicles). Here is an interesting article on this matter:
Boenau, A. (July 9, 2025) “The old traffic math that keeps destroying neighborhoods,” Fast Company, https://www.fastcompany.com/91362348/road-design-traffic-math-destroying-neighborhoods-los [Last accessed: 7/15/2025]
Quoting from the article:
Here are three important questions for experts to ponder:
- Is slow-moving car traffic ever safer than fast-moving traffic?
- Do we have any obligation to provide safe and convenient access for people when they aren’t inside cars?
- What are the economic downsides of wider, faster streets in the central business district?
When planners and engineers truly wrestle with those questions, they can choose to remain a conformist who ignores the damage of traffic metrics, or become an outlier in the industry and make a positive impact that might be felt for generations to come. Things can get better in the end.
–
Again, I must say that rethinking roads and streets should be context sensitive. Still, safety should be the top concern especially for areas that is predominantly residential and/or school. Safety, after all, comes first in the definitions of transportation and traffic engineering.
–
On transportation problems being treated like diseases
I am sharing this relatively old article on transportation problems needing treatments as if these were diseases. I say it’s ‘old’ because it’s from last year, and these days when much content is being pushed everywhere including mainstream and social media, things get old, quickly. Rewind to more than a decade ago and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) wasn’t as popularly applied as today and Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be everywhere now including in transportation systems.
Menard, T. (September 1, 2024) “Transportation Rx: Treating Traffic Glut Like Doctors Treat Sinus Congestion,” Planetizen, https://www.planetizen.com/features/131478-transportation-rx-treating-traffic-glut-doctors-treat-sinus-congestion [Last accessed: 4/21/2025]
To quote from the article:
“Traffic congestion is not unlike congestion that builds up in the human airways. When we see a doctor, we are prescribed a treatment that clears the backup. Similarly for roads, rather than setting up road signs and cones to redirect traffic, cities can take a more prescribed treatment approach through methods such as congestion pricing and other road pricing strategies, as well as technologies like edge computing, navigation-enabled Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) modeling, and transit signal prioritization. “
This is not the first article to allude to medicine when the topic is traffic congestion. There are others that use terminology from the human body’s circulatory system. When an artery gets blocked, a bypass can be a solution. But perhaps we don’t need bypasses and look at other. more effective ways of dealing with transportation problems.
–
A new bottleneck along Marcos Highway in Antipolo City?
I’ve been wondering why there seems to be much congestion along the westbound side of Marcos Highway in the morning just before we reach SM Cherry. It is usually flowing there but the past weeks when we used the route instead of Sumulong Highway, traffic was really bad. As I am quite observant about the traffic and always looking for reasons or causes, I found that this was due to the alternative route Antipolo ‘opened’ that many motorists now take when traveling between Marikina and the side of Antipolo heading in the general direction of Cogeo.
The alternate route connects Marcos Highway and Sumulong Highway via TOCS Avenue (which intersects Marcos Highway near SM Cherry) and Sampaguita Street (which intersects Sumulong Highway past Masinag Junction and near the Hillside Centre Plaza before Soliven Avenue). If you’re coming from Marikina and heading in the direction of Cogeo or even Antipolo Simbahan then this route may provide shorter travel time as you won’t have to go around Masinag Junction to make an effective left turn to Marcos Highway (direct left turns at Masinag are not allowed).
This is the view from the queue approaching the intersection of TOCS Avenue with Marcos Highway from the eastbound side of the highway. Note that traffic is not flowing from the junction along the eastbound (Metro Manila bound) side of the highway.
A closer look with vehicles turning left to Marcos Highway from TOCS Avenue. There are usually Antipolo traffic enforcers facilitation (read: favoring) traffic from and to TOCS Avenue. This results to build-up along Marcos Highway where most traffic is through traffic.
The resulting congestion affects many travelers including freight along the westbound (Metro Manila-bound) direction of Marcos Highway.
While the alternate route likely provides shorter travel times for those coming from Marikina to Antipolo/Cogeo and vice versa, this is at the expense of more people and goods who and that travel along Marcos Highway. Antipolo should realize this even with basic observations on the traffic build-up in the area. Traffic for that alternate route should not be prioritized to the detriment of travelers along Marcos Highway.
–
Counterflow lanes in Bangkok, Thailand
I almost forgot again about this set of photos showing the implementation of a counterflow scheme along a long stretch of road in Bangkok. Heading out of Bangkok, I was able to take photos of the counterflow lanes and variable traffic signs used for this purpose. We were northbound meaning we were traveling outbound of the metropolis and opposed to the peak direction (southbound was inbound to Bangkok).
Approaching an overpass where variable traffic signs are installed overhead (i.e., on a gantry).
It is easy to see which lanes are assigned for our direction and which ones for the opposite flow.
On the overpass, you can see that the variable signs are installed at regular intervals. There are a few cones that act as physical separators (not really barriers) between opposing flows.
Sort of a close up of the variable signs and a cone. I assume the cones are placed there by traffic authorities. They might be transferred to the other side of the overpass if the counterflow was in favor of our direction.
Another photo showing the installed variable signs towards the other end of the overpass.
Four lanes are assigned to inbound traffic while only two are for outbound traffic.
At the foot of the overpass is a pedestrian overpass. The stairs appear to be quite steep based on the photo. I’m not aware of criticisms of the pedestrian footbridges in Bangkok. I would have to ask my Thai friends about their designs.
Another overpass where all lanes are assigned to the southbound direction
The parked vehicle on the chevron is with the traffic authority of Bangkok.
I actually started writing this in April last year. I will try to finish some drafts I started last year this month while also posting about my recent travel to Bicol.
–
Davao 8th, Manila 14th worst in Tomtom Traffic Index
I just want to share this news report here:
Source: Davao 8th, Manila 14th worst in Tomtom Traffic Index
I have to admit that I still have to figure out in detail how exactly their data were collected and evaluated. However, knowing and experiencing traffic in these cities, I would like to opine that traffic is still worse in Metro Manila cities compared to Davao and perhaps others across the country.
Safety or speed?
We start June by sharing a video on why safety and vehicle speed are incompatible:
I saw this video while browsing an article on “Dangerous by Design”. The article discusses a new publication where road designs are evaluated from the perspective of safety. Most of our roads have been designed with speed in mind. That is, how to facilitate the movement of motor vehicles to ensure they travel faster. Forgotten or, even worse, disregarded is the most important element of safety. Why do we widen roads or insist on higher speeds in populated areas or school zones? Such questions are not addressed directly or not answered at all by agencies in charge of planning, designing, constructing and maintaining roads and bridges. The same is true for agencies or units in charge of traffic regulations or management. The result not surprisingly is an increase in the number of road crashes, fatalities and injuries due to our roads being ‘dangerous by design’.
–
Counterflow irony along Ortigas Avenue Extension, Pasig City
One Friday, I traveled to Ortigas Center from Antipolo via the most direct route using Ortigas Avenue Extension. I was not surprised by the counterflow scheme being implemented starting from De Castro all the way to Rosario Bridge. I was also not surprised that the more congested lane was the counterflow lane. I thought everyone expected the main traffic lanes to be congested as PUVs like jeepneys, buses and vans usually create bottlenecks as they block traffic while passengers board/alight along that section of Ortigas Avenue Extension. Here is what you might encounter in terms of traffic if you opt to stay along the westbound traffic lanes:
Traffic before the Manggahan floodway bridge at what was generally called Mariwasa. The Filinvest residential development on the left used to be the Mariwasa tiles plant.
Traffic after the crossing the bridge. Note the pedestrian overpass in the photo.
Meters after and near the overpass, you can already see the build-up in the Rosario area
The Rosario bridge area is usually congested not just because of the PUV operations but also because there is the junction of Ortigas Avenue Extension and Amang Rodriguez Avenue, which is another major thoroughfare connecting this area to other parts of Pasig, Quezon City and Marikina City.
I will post about the counterflow scheme in Bangkok in the next post.
–
Caught (up) in traffic 