Cost of ‘new normal’

Ian Alfredo Magno

MORE than a month ago, it took an average of five to six hours for a 40-kilometer trip from Cagayan de Oro to the Laguindingan airport, vice versa.  The lag was apparently caused by the sudden collapse of the portion of a makeshift mound where a bridge was being constructed. Stacks of vehicles stuck in heavy traffic from both directions had to alternately pass through via a single file, which virtually took eternity (“may forever”).

Blaming the stack on the damaged bridge was as easy as A-B-C. Thanks to its timely repair, and things returned to normal–or so we thought.  After it got fixed, however, vehicles still get stuck in long queues quite oftener than before.  Why? There has to be something more than just a mended mound that is causing the regular inconvenience in idle traffic.  Purportedly, due to the steady increase of commercial activity in this part of the region, such a “state of things” has become the “new normal.”

Verily, the predicament could not be isolated from, and is in fact inevitably linked with, the state of road traffic in the larger Cagayan de Oro.  That said, guess what?  With more and more establishments set to be operational by the time school resumes on June 2017, this “new normal” is set to get worse before it gets any better.

For instance, among the varied trafficelated concerns is parking space.

Look around. It is quite noticeable that multi-level buildings, at least with a minimum of five decks or so, have sprouted like mushrooms. One bone of contention, however, is whether all these structures provide ample parking spaces for all concerned. Is the mandatory setback from the roadside enough to contain any vehicular activity it may generate?  I don’t think so. The setback alone is not enough to provide parking slots even solely for the tenants of such multi-level building.

The privilege to construct multi-level structures for commercial lease is paired with the concurrent and mandatory responsibility to provide sufficient parking areas that are integrally incorporated with the structure design/blueprint itself–basement, or the first few levels thereof.

Unfortunately, these new buildings comply only with the mandatory setback–which is not enough; and wager the rest of their parking needs to public road.

What does it imply?

It means more and more motorists will attempt to park their vehicles beside the road, which are however very limited given the prohibition from the local traffic administration. Hence, as our streets get congested with regular traffic, so too would it get an intolerable volume of vehicles parked (or trying to park) on the sides. Undoubtedly, it adds up to existing traffic woes. Moreover, as more and more vehicles spend more time looking for a place to dock, streets all the more get congested; individual/personal time is wasted; and to a larger degree, productivity–income, output, performance, sales, service, etc.–suffers too.  Common sense therefore dictates that this “new normal” is costing the local government, the private sector and the public at large more than just road inconvenience.
(Ian Alfredo T. Magno is a lawyer based in Cagayan de Oro. E-mail: ianalfredom@gmail.com)