Road tales

At the end of the evening we still weren’t sure what his role in the just concluded World Economic Forum on East Asia would be, but the briefing arranged by one of the public relations firms for the WEF-EA week before last for STAR editors and reporters with Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson and National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon proved to be quite informative and enlightening – maybe not so much about the WEF-EA but certainly about roads and floodways and other infrastructure.

This Cabinet secretary is so low-key he had walked straight into our editorial office and was at the door of the conference before anyone realized he had arrived. I have to admit that I really didn’t know what he looked like and wouldn’t have been able to recognize him. Anyway, that night I sat across from him to be sure I got a good look at him.

I wrote before that here is one secretary who gives straight answers and honest assessments – nothing but, good or bad. That night he was true to form – nothing bombastic, everything on the record, no pa-cute statements (except perhaps for this one: “Sige, bahala kayo pag mawalan ako ng trabaho”), with two feet on the ground, away from the grandstand.

I have not changed my mind about accepting – with a smile and patience plus – temporary inconveniences of traffic jams due to the road works being undertaken in many parts of the metropolis these sizzling days of summer because (1) the road works are for a specific and specified time; (2) these are being done when school is out and traffic is not so bad; and (3) it is part of a bigger and real effort to lessen floods and give us better roads that will not disintegrate with the next downpour. I am fully trusting the secretary on that last point.

Sections of EDSA have, for the past many weekends, been tied up for reblocking (that term has now entered our vocabulary) or re-concreting of portions of the highway where the cement is weak, cracked or otherwise defective due to age and use. Two or three more weekends, the secretary said, of such reblocking and the entire 24-kilometer stretch of EDSA will be good to go, structurally sound. (No, it is not 54 kilometers long, and why it used to be called Highway 54 – if you’re old enough to remember – is the stuff of urban myth; google it and you’ll find quite a few explanations.)

The next phase of the rejuvenation of EDSA will involve asphalt overlay for a smooth, like-on-air ride. The secretary explained that at present, EDSA has a roughness index three times the international standard (yes, there is an International Roughness Index for roads), meaning a very rough ride indeed (“you don’t even have to measure,” he said, “just take a drive on it”). But give him from 10 to 12 months, working at night every night, and we’ll have a nice, cushy EDSA that will not only be smooth but also not slippery even when wet. I will not burden you with the details of this asphalting process, which he explained in surprisingly simple and understandable terms (no words over four syllables). His department still has to work out schedules with the Metro Manila authorities, but he hopes to start asphalting the Makati portion of EDSA after the WEF-EA wraps up and have this showcase road ready for the APEC meetings which we will host the whole of next year.