IT WAS a dry-run for the closure of Talomo Bridge as it undergoes widening. It was a project long planned but is just to be implemented now.
We ask: “Anyare?”
As the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said, “This is a 2016 project na na-hold due to the difficulty of acquiring RROW for the construction of a detour bridge somewhere in Talomo. But now that the Talomo Puan bypass road is operational which can serve as an alternate route, the regional office has decided to pursue the project.”
Apparently, that did not work as traffic jammed to a standstill for hours.
We just hope that the DWPH, Davao City Transport and Traffic Management Office, and the traffic division of the Philippine National Police have already sat down and revised the traffic rerouting plan. The plan obviously did not work; otherwise traffic wouldn't have piled up that way.
Today is another day. Will the residents down south have to suffer yet another day? Will the poor jeepney driver go home again with no earnings for the day? Will taxi drivers become very choose against people who live in the south?
While we truly hope not, but we know for a fact that this is a big possibility today.
Thus, while we are castigating the authorities to do something about the traffic situation fast, we are also appealing to residents to not add to the crush by going on unnecessary trips that will add up to the jam.
Let us all be considerate of those who need the road most today and in the coming days. The bridge widening, after all, will benefit all.