Democratize road use

Bencyrus Ellorin

LAST weekend, mannequin challenge became the joke that was the traffic snarl at the CM Recto Avenue.

This part of the city is a study in contrast. On one side, it manifests the booming economy of Cagayan de Oro. The city proper has four big malls: Gaisano City and Mall; across the street is the Ayala Centrio; then the sprawling Limketkai Complex; and the latest addition is SM CDO Downtown Premier.

It is as if traffic in that district of the city is already bad. With the opening of the SM Premier, traffic in the area may just have turned from worse to worst. Traffic engineering and enforcement may abate the snarl, but nothing less than a miracle would solve the traffic problem in that area which indubitably has a chain effect on other parts of the city. Patience there is not just a virtue, but could well be a survival skill.

On rainy days, that area, a built-up swamp is flooded. No need to elaborate. Mention the date Jan. 16, 2017 and everyone remembers. There was massive clean-up of the infamous Bitan-ag and multi-billion peso drainage projects to solve the flooding in the area. It remains to be seen if the flooding problem will persist. The next heavy rains will be the judge.

Economic boom results in people, mostly the middle class, having more cash on hand. Financial institutions, the banks and cooperatives are smart enough to device financing packages for cars. Those finally having a breather in the rat race are lining up to get the latest sub-compact or compact sedans whose prices could range from half a million to around P800 thousand. Those in the higher echelons are selling their three to five-year-old cars to upgrade into SUVs,  crossovers or pick-up trucks whose prices start somewhere in the P900 thousand up to over P2 million.

One car company reports over a hundred units of sale a month. Another close to a hundred. Then the third up to the fifth market players, over a hundred more. Add to it the hundreds of surplus cars. The conservative estimate is 500 new cars a month.

Huge sales in stores, the construction boom have also resulted in more trucks, five-tonner up in our streets. In our highways, huge 18 wheelers and 10 wheelers share the road with the motorcycles and yes, that tricycle. Mixing huge trucks, cars and slow moving vehicles like tricycles have a general effect of slowing traffic, aside from increasing the risk of those in small vehicles.

The city’s road network has not been able to cope with the sharp increase of vehicles year-on-year. The city has a total of 582.44710 kilometers of roads. The number of registered vehicles as of 2015 was 70,219.

The number of registered vehicles more than doubled in the last 15 years, from 33,180 in 2001 to 70,219 in 2015. Motorcycles and tricycles account for the most number of motor vehicles–33,439 in 2015, followed by utility vehicles at 20,318, and cars, 7,302.

A booming, metropolizing city have its citizens highly mobile, not just socially but also physically.

Moving around the city need to be limited to motor vehicles. Our streets have to be bicycle- and pedestrian- friendly. Moving around Divisoria, Corrales, Velez, Tiano, Rizal, Capistrano and even Burgos streets need not be on motorela or car. Walker-friendly sidewalks encourage people to walk. City streets may also need to have bike lanes. Not only are bicycles clean, but also a healthy way of moving around. Motorists on the other hand should be made aware that they do not own the road. The roads, built on taxpayers’ money, should be accessible to all users–walking pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

The concept of road sharing does not only give us relief from traffic snarls, but actually democratization of the use of public roads.