THE Bacolod Traffic Authority Office (BTAO) will hold training for the traffic enforcers for the implementation of the Traffic Master Plan in the city.
This was stressed by Police Lieutenant Colonel Luisito Acebuche, head of BTAO, on Thursday, October 3, after they already received the Traffic Master Plan from the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) last week.
Acebuche said they will finalize the schedule of training this month so they can implement the MMDA’s recommendation to address the traffic congestion in various areas.
“We will implement it [Traffic Master Plan] with the help of our mayor to improve our traffic situation here,” he said.
He added that most of the recommendations are also applicable in Bacolod.
In December 2018, the MMDA conducted a 12-day study in Bacolod City for free.
A traffic master plan could cost millions if done by private groups, but MMDA is assisting Bacolod City for free.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said the Traffic Master Plan is a road map of Bacolod for the next five years.
“We want to manage traffic correctly because it will also give us a business climate. This Traffic Master Plan is a giant step towards our mission to have a more rationalized and better managed traffic system in the city,” he said.
Executive Assistant George Zulueta, vice chairman of City Development Council (CDC), said the Traffic Master Plan will be forwarded to the CDC’s next meeting to discuss its funds which costs more than P100 million.
He said the MMDA has two major recommendations - a short-term and a long-term - to address the traffic situation in Bacolod.
Among the MMDA’s recommendations include modernizing the city’s traffic signal system, training and hiring additional traffic enforcers, re-routing some public utility vehicles, clearing roads, establishing jeepney terminals, installing more traffic lights and pedestrian lights, constructing center islands along Barangay Pahanocoy Highway, and amending the traffic ordinances on the implementation of penalties like the anti-jaywalking ordinance.
“MMDA is also encouraging us that by July 2020 we should be able to establish our route plan and implement the jeepney modernization plan,” Zulueta said.
The MMDA performs planning, monitoring, and coordinative functions, and in the process exercises regulatory and supervisory authority over the delivery of metro-wide services within Metro Manila.