Fast forward to the future

I reside at an old residential subdivision. Built in the early 60’s a little more than three kilometers from the city hall, it could be one of the earliest subdivisions hereabout. Our home, by the way, was a gift to my lady, Carmen, by her loving parents. When I started staying here, public transportation did not exist. No jeepneys included our place in their route. The cars that traveled on its road were those owned by the villagers. Naturally, we did not have any traffic problem because the subdivision roads could accommodate the vehicles of the residents even if they were all running on our streets. That was then.

The present is markedly different. Times have drastically changed. Thanks to this thing called progress, a major link between Mandaue City and Cebu City passes thru our subdivision and our traffic, once minimal, is now humongous. For instance, one recent afternoon, as I drove out of my home, I witnessed a long line of vehicles almost at a stand still. All of the drivers I saw seemed to be in such terrible state of “road rage” that they could ignite a fight with the slightest provocation. It took me a while to insert into the proper lane because no one wanted to give space.

Then, I realized that the craziness of the traffic situation in our place is but a common event in many parts of Cebu City. Perhaps, we, in our subdivision, have a worse condition at certain times of the day compared to other areas of our city, but the general outlook of our traffic is that it is already problem. And more, in the future.

Now is the time for our leaders to address this looming future problem. Traffic grid lock is likely to cause terrible headaches to all of us in the next few years. They better take care of this problem this early before the cost of solving it in the future becomes unbearable. In fact, if, somewhere in a city government office, there exists a blueprint for an efficient system, which I suppose should be anchored upon a modern road network, by all means, we have to work on such plan. Let’s bite the bullet rather than allow the plan to gather more dust and cobwebs. We have to be wary of the inevitability of future monstrous traffic jams.

To be reasonable, let us admit that a century ago, urban planning was probably not even a theory yet. So, many of our roads were not constructed out of careful planning. They were built more in response to a need than in consideration of a better forward outlook. Sometimes, they were constructed to favor certain high-strung personalities. In other words, our present officials did not have anything with the woes that narrow and crooked streets generate.

Just the same, we have to understand that for a greater part, this problem falls on the lap of our city leaders. While they may have just inherited the stewardship of a city with inefficient road system, it concerns our city officials directly. The explosiveness of the situation is within their turf. Heavy traffic jams in the days to come are not scenes for the future leaders to take care or but it is a current case of responsible leadership.

In an earlier column, I suggested three approaches. First, our present leaders have to initiate the widening of roads for the obvious purpose of accommodating more vehicles. Such narrow streets as Cabantan, Holy Name, Ermita, and Sikatuna, in the North District, are incapable of absorbing the increasing number vehicles. Second, they have to straighten crooked streets like Gen. Echavez. Third, the city government has to make new roads.

A few factors contributing to our traffic woes lie outside the ambit of our local officials. Let me cite at least, two. One. There are more taxicabs than needed in our city. Two. PUJ’s are allowed to run the streets even if they carry less commuters than say bigger buses. Our leaders have to make strong representations with the national government to limit the number of taxi units to operate in our city. A smaller taxi fleet frees a wider area of our streets. This is the same effect if only a few jeepneys are authorized to operate. In their place, we can have still fewer buses.

So, let us call upon our present leaders to address this future problem.