The name "Janet Napoles" may serve you headaches these days. Thanks to her, our local traffic dilemma has attracted lesser attention.
Let me tell you a story about my everyday commuter experience, which I interchangeably refer to as my "religious devotion"
My class starts at 8:30 am every Tuesday and Thursday and 10:00 am for Wednesdays and Fridays. As you may have known, I am commuting from Taytay to UP Diliman everyday. I have to take 17 kilometers of ride to get there and another 17 to return, totalling 34 kilometers of travel everyday. (OMG!) The average travel time ranges from 1 hour to 1 and a half during the regular semester.
The picture below is the path I take going from Taytay to UP. It is also the same path I use when returning home.
Taytay to UP-Diliman Trajecory Map
Before you reach UP, you first have cross three cities and one town. Travelling from Taytay to Cainta is relatively fast, with minor incidence of traffic in Tikling, a junction area. However, travelling from Cainta to UP is something that you want to keep forgetting everyday.
Let's start with Taytay- Cainta boundry. This border is minitored by Cainta's traffic aidse. The street of Gen Ricarte (South) all the way to Don Ceso Tuazon Avenue (North) cuts Ortigas Avenue, as shown in the picture below. The left side is under Cainta's political jurisdiction, while Taytay administers the opposite half. As you can see, the boundary is actually a junction. Several middle to upperclass subdivisions are located here, particularly the area north of Don Celso T. Tuazon Avenue.
The boundary between Cainta and Taytay. The north-south line serves as the border with Cainta administering the left side and Taytay for the opposite side.
Where's the traffic here? Vehicles going to and coming from these subdivisions and industrial park are causing a major slowdown when they make a u-turn. Remember that when making a u-turn, vehicles very careful in order not to hit the other's car, so in essence, they have to slow down. Which you already know what will happen next. Note the absence of public transport in the subdivision except for tricycles which do not contribute much to traffic considering its size. The lack of public transport causes people to travel using their own cars which makes the traffic even worse.
Happy about being able to cross this area? The challenge is not yet over. Going through leads you to Brookeside subdivision, another posh village. However, unlike the previous area, this is purely a residential village, with a very few manufacturing companies operating. The Municipal government of Cainta recently set up a traffic light in order to moderate the flow but to no avail. The traffic light even made the condition worse, with more vehicles waiting and eager to escape this "local inferno". In additon, note the the presence of a bottleneck in Ortigas Avenue starting from Sunset Drive going left. The three lanes have been reduced to two, causing severe traffic condition.
Bottleneck Area at Brookside Subdivision
Advancing through takes you to Cainta Junction Area. I can't complain much about the condition here because it is part of the national highway system and because of it very nature as a "junction area", which means that you have to wait before you'll be allowed to cross. But being stranded here for 2 minutes still eats up your time.
Cainta Junction
Now moving on leads you to Imelda Avenue which you could also call as Felix Avenue (I am not really sure which one should be properly used because Cainta renamed it after the Felix clan , a prominent political figure. However, Pasig residents still make use of Imelda Avenue, largely because of the on-going boundary dispute between the two) . You'll definitely notice how the vehicle flow slows down upon reaching the Village East-Imelda Avenue Intersection. The good thing is, compared with the previous "stopovers", this one is less severe. Again, the presence vehicles going to and coming from this subdivision as well as SM and nearby establishments contributes substantially to the traffic.
Village East - Imelda Avenue Intersection
You might be thinking that my dilemma is over, unfortunately, there's more (kawawa naman :( ). By now ,I am already in Karangalan Village, an old source of political tension between Cainta and Pasig which still remains alive. But before I reach this area, an intersection serving another subdivision halts the traffic flow. The picture below shows the junction area of imelda-Vista Verde Village. I often attribute this as the most extreme area for traffic in all parts of Cainta. This is a densely populated subdivision with no public transport serving its people and it's no wonder why they resort to using private vehicles. Their big population necessitates the use of more vehicles, leaving you to wait for long period of time when they cross. The worst part happens when the traffic aids favor these vehicles to cross more than those are not coming from the village. Another unfavorable part here is when the area is blocked by vehicles coming from and going to the subdivision as they "immobilize" the rest of the cars from Imelda Avenue. This often reaches two kilometers of stranded vehicles from the Vista Verde-Imelda Junction area. Also, take note of two lanes serving the entire vehicles.
Vista Verde - Imelda Avenue Intersection
Now for the rest of the so called "stopovers", I will only be providing some pictures of these areas because their main traffic cause is similar to the previous one.
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Cainta Green Park Village - Imelda Avenue Intersection
Sta. Lucia - Imelda Avenue Intersection
Now, what can we learn from here? While residential and commercial developments may contribute substantially to the local economy, the people's welfare should never be ignored just to give way for these projects. The presence of numerous subdivisions scattered side by side have severely modified the traffic flow, with more and more of them relying on private vehicles for travelling. The local government should implement a stricter control on the issuance of development permits and must seriously examine the benefits these projects give compared with the social costs shouldered by the people. The town's officials must promote public transport that will exclusively cater to these subdivisions so they may stay away from using their cars, thus reducing transport costs and pollution.
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