BACOLOD City – The traffic situation in this city isn’t much of a problem, if an official of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) were to look at it.
It is in fact “more organized” than in other areas of the country, said Neomie Recio, director of the MMDA Traffic Engineering Center.
Recio is heading a 15-man team deployed to study vehicular traffic in this city.
Based on their initial assessment, the traffic management in the metro just needs a “little fine-tuning,” the MMDA official said.
“To be fair to Bacolod City, you have wide roads,” Recio told a press briefing.
The MMDA team will stay in the city for 12 days until Dec. 13 to conduct a field study and initiate the creation of a traffic management master plan.
Traffic engineers and experts are monitoring various areas, especially the busiest intersections, during peak hours in the morning and afternoon, Recio said.
They intend to compare the traffic volume with the traffic capacity of the roads, identify traffic generators and problems, and make recommendations on how to solve them, she added.
Once the 12-day study is complete, the MMDA team will bring the data to Manila for analysis and evaluation.
The evaluation, which would be the basis for the traffic master plan, takes three to four months to complete, Recio said.
Councilor Dindo Ramos, chairman of the Sangguniang Panlungsod committee on transportation and traffic management, acknowledged the city’s need for traffic management experts to improve traffic situation.
The city council is willing to pass an ordinance to support the enforcement of the traffic management plan, he added.
Leonardia believes the MMDA is best agency to help Bacolod come up with the traffic master plan. “Not only are they equipped in [terms of] academics, they [also] have actual experience.”
He appealed to Bacolodnons to cooperate with the city government in its effort to address traffic concerns.
This city had 92,827 registered motor vehicles in 2017, up from 84,978 in 2016, records at the Land Transportation Office showed.
The 2017 figure accounts for 22.31 percent of the total number of vehicles in Western Visayas. (PNA)
