The planned one-way traffic scheme that was supposed to be implemented at the three flyovers along the Banilad-Talamban (Bantal) corridor on Monday, May 8, 2023, was postponed.
Atty. Rico Rey Francis “Koko” Holganza, chairman of Cebu City’s Traffic Management Coordination Committee (TMCC), made the right decision to defer its implementation until all the pros and cons on the proposal are considered.
From my observation, since I drive my car in the morning or in the afternoon from my home north of the city to my office in Barangay Kasambagan, the humongous volume of motor vehicle movement is going to the CBD and not going to Talamban.
Traffic was not terrible before the change in the traffic scheme at the intersection in Banilad where there is a flyover.
Prior to the change, public utility jeepneys (PUJs) and public utility buses (PUBs) from Talamban and cars going to Countrymall and to Barangay Apas or the Army Camp used the road beside the flyover so that traffic at the flyover was not overwhelmed.
After the change in the traffic scheme, during mid-morning and even after lunch, except during Sundays and holidays, traffic on the flyover in Banilad going to the CBD is bumper to bumper and sometimes at a standstill for a few minutes because PUJs, modern jeepneys and PUBs vie for space with private vehicles going up to the two-way flyover. On the way down, some vehicles turn left to the Banilad Town Center, holding up traffic.
Modesty aside, I brought up the subject to Atty. Koko Holganza.
Traffic on the flyover in the morning and in the afternoon going to Talamban is not bad.
Traffic is only held up upon reaching the area where schools are located because of exiting vehicles and students crossing the road and upon reaching the intersection in Nasipit, Talamban (Gov. Cuenco Ave. corner M.L. Quezon Ave. going to Cabancalan, Mandaue City) where the interchange is manned by traffic enforcers only until 6 p.m.
Certainly, I am not an engineer and I do not pretend to be an expert.
But a friend, then a traffic czar here, told me that traffic management is 70 percent common sense and 30 percent engineering.
Taking into consideration my observations in my everyday traverse of this thoroughfare it is more appropriate to make the Banilad flyover one way going to the CBD instead of heading to the direction of Talamban.
Maybe the TMCC could make a further study of implementing a hybrid scheme on the flyover.
Convert the flyover into one way in the morning or afternoon, or whenever traffic is heavy, by putting up the appropriate traffic sign. Developed countries like Australia practice it.
When the volume of traffic in a particular area is heavy, the opposing lane with fewer vehicles is automatically closed and opened to traffic from the other lane to ease congestion.
But orderly traffic could hardly be achieved until the traffic system is automated according to international standards in all of Cebu City’s intersections.
It is even unsettling that the TMCC cannot accept the new traffic system installed in Cebu City’s 18 intersections because its performance is below par despite the supplier’s claims that it uses “the latest and most advanced technology that uses adaptive countdown timers.”
Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama will reportedly investigate the City’s digital traffic light system contract after the traffic board refuted the contractor’s claim that its technology is the most advanced. It is said that the predecessor, the Scats (Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System), was quicker.