MMDA irons out plans to ease Christmas traffic congestion

Expecting vehicle traffic to get heavier near commercial districts as the Christmas shopping season peaks, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and mall administrators are working out ways to deal with the problem. MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino met officials of Ortigas Center and Ayala Center this week to coordinate measures to ease traffic congestion especially along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA). "Traffic is everybody's concern. We should look at it holistically rather than limiting our concerns to within one area of jurisdiction only," Tolentino told officials of the Ortigas Center Association, Inc. (OCAI) and Ayala Properties during a meeting at the MMDA office in Makati City. Tolentino particularly appealed to SM Megamall to inform the MMDA at least two weeks before holding shopping sale promos that attract a huge number of shoppers. Traffic in the Makati and Ortigas area Tolentino said the Makati and Pasig commercial districts, particularly Ortigas, are significant components of the traffic situation in EDSA. Tolentino thus met with officials malls, the Makati Parking Authority (MAPA) and the Pasig City government. Tolentino urged OCAI and Ayala Properties, and also the representatives of SM Megamall and Robinson's Galleria, to work closely with the MMDA in managing traffic along the 28-kilometer stretch of EDSA. The SM Megamall is the largest mall located in the Ortigas Center area along EDSA. "Our experience is that during any sale, traffic leading to and from SM Megamall along Edsa is terrible. We should be notified beforehand so we could plan and make contingencies," Tolentino said in an article posted on the MMDA website. Tolentino also discussed with the Ayala and MAPA representatives the traffic bottleneck at the EDSA-Ayala Avenue intersection. He said traffic lights along the stretch of Ayala should be synchronized to allow a faster flow of traffic into the Makati Central Business District during morning rush hour. MMDA Traffic Engineering Center statistics show that 1,896 vehicles enter Ayala Avenue from EDSA southbound every hour during the morning rush while 1,309 come from Magallanes. Tolentino also discussed with OCAI a plan to carve out a loading and unloading point at Onyx Avenue to accommodate AUVs that unload passengers along Meralco Avenue near the foot of the Meralco flyover. He tasked newly appointed MMDA Undersecretary Alex Cabanilla to oversee the strict implementation of these measures and other measures discussed during the meeting. "This is only the start of the things that we will be doing for the next few months to relieve EDSA of traffic congestion," he said. – VVP, GMANews.TV