IT’S Monday, the day with the heaviest morning traffic and so I anticipated that I would be late from work when I headed out from my house at about 7:30am. But lo and behold, I got in my office at 7:45am before everyone else has.
What was different today? The Roads and Traffic Administration (RTA) implemented what they called “burak” where in regular intervals all lanes at Masterson Road shall flow a single direction.
In Road Management we call that a mitigating measure. Mitigations are employed when preventive measures fall short or are not possible as of the moment. To complement the said mitigation would be to also put in place a system of quick response such as strategic posting of traffic personnel as well as access to clearing equipment in case of buildup or accidents.
Ideally, the ultimate preventive measure is of course rationalized routing taking into consideration the road capacity and the volume of motorists. This should have been addressed already with the approved LPTRP, unless it was poorly done or the data are already obsolete, which is kind of absurd since the template requires 5-year projection of traffic. I would know since I drafted one for a city in Negros.
That being said, I would like to commend the RTA for the effective and efficient “burak” system they have implemented in Masterson Drive. Hundreds of motorists must have arrived early to work today just as I did. Congratulations are in order.
But I would like to push the issue further in saying that “burak” remains to be a band aid solution and in the long run it will still be expensive and not sustainable. So I seriously hope they won’t settle for such and that I also hope this kind of commendable dedication to explore solutions will not only be seen during election season. And that while other bottleneck points around the city are not as politically sensationalized as the Uptown Traffic recently, I hope they would also extend their genius in those.
Churchill G. Aguilar
