THE City Government of Bacolod is planning to use the underutilized roads to address the traffic congestion in the city.

Councilor Al Victor Espino, chairperson of the city council committee on traffic, said Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez convened the Bacolod City Traffic Authority Council on Monday, August 8, to discuss the traffic situation in the city.

“We discussed the possibility of using the underutilized roads to reduce the volume of traffic in various areas,” he said.

The official added that they will conduct a study along with the Bacolod Traffic Authority Office (BTAO) to determine these areas which will then be submitted to Benitez.

Once it will be approved, Espino said a traffic experiment will also be conducted by BTAO.

Major Junji Liba, head of BTAO, said they also intensified their campaign against erring, tricycle, pedicab and electric bike (e-bike) drivers plying along the main thoroughfares and national highways.

“The tricycles, pedicabs and e-bikes should only use the secondary roads because they also cause traffic congestion in various areas of the city,” Liba said.

BTAO, he said, deployed several traffic enforcers in the main thoroughfares along with their supervisors to arrest erring drivers.

Presently, they only have 272 personnel, Liba added.

Of the number, 211 are traffic enforcers while the rest are deployed at BTAO offices assigned at the engineering, truck ban, and traffic education personnel, among others.