AN OFFICIAL of the Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) admitted Monday, December 19, they were caught “with their pants down” with regard to the sheer volume of traffic this holiday season.
RTA Administration Head Nonito Oclarit said they are trying new approaches such as temporary disallowing of left turns in certain choke points and the deployment of more traffic enforcers.
Oclarit said the RTA has begun deploying office personnel to help manage traffic, especially near malls.
“Ato nang gi-dry run ang atong mga new approaches, nituyok mi sa mga choke points sa siyudad. Pananglitan, ang one way, i-temporary lang nato nga dili ma-one way, or dili ba kaha, i-disallow ang left turn or in some areas, butangan pud ug left turn, tan-awon pa ni nato tanan pud (We already had our dry-run with our new approaches, we went around the choke points of the city. For example, the one way road will temporarily not be a one way, or we will disallow left turns, or in some areas, we will allow left turns, we will observe all of it),” he added.
Oclarit clarified they have been doing dry-runs of various traffic scheme since last month.
“Actually, nag-conduct naman mi aning dry-run, amo lang gi-update among plans kay grabe man gayud ang traffic dili pareha atong niaging tuig, before pa sa December, naa nami situationer. Kini among gihimo, response lang ni based sa among na-obserbahan (we already conducted the dry-run, we just updated our plans because of the heavy traffic unlike last year before December, we have our situationer. What we are doing now, is a response based on our observations) every now and then,” he added.
The RTA identified a number of choke points or the most congested roads in the city namely: C.M. Recto Avenue, Corrales street, Pimentel road to Camaman-an, Agora road, Puregold-Valenzuela Avenue, Osmena Street, Gaabucayan-Corrales street and Julio Pacana.
Also included are the Cogon market-Osmena, Osmena-Luna, Ramonal Street, Xavier University area, Corrales-Hayes streets, Hayes-Pabayo streets, Corrales-Fernandezz, Capistrano-Borja, Burgos-Borja, JR Borja, and the areas in Barangay Carmen.
Another solution is the joint clearing operations of police, Land Transportation Office (LTO), and the RTA along the highways.
Started last December 16, the RTA and LTO has issued several citations and towed more or less five trailer trucks which were found parked along the highways.
Aside from the operations, the RTA has not allowed vendors to sell their products in the city streets to avoid traffic congestion.
Residents and motorists, however, have noted the efforts to clear highways of obstructions have not been consistently done.
With the heavy traffic experienced by motorists and commuters all over the city, netizens have weighed in to situation.
The RTA, along with the LTO and police, last week started its “Hapsay Hghway” campaign but motorists noted trailer trucks and other obstructions were back along the highway as soon as the joint law enforcement team had left the area.
Motorists also took their frustration to social media with many likening the traffic situation in the city to that of Edsa.
One social media user even dubbed Cagayan de Oro City as no longer the City of Golden Friendship but the “City of Golden Traffic.”