Cebu City needs a roundabout to solve traffic
Perhaps the best news that I got about the problems of traffic in Cebu City was a report in The FREEMAN that the Cebu City government is now starting to look for new technology to upgrade its 30-year-old traffic system. It was in the early 1990’s when the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS) was introduced to Cebu City on a P110-million grant where more than 80 street intersections were given traffic lights complete with sensors to modernize the traffic lighting system.
When I took over CITOM in 2000, the system was starting to fail because our asphalt was quite soft and would break down the sensors in the intersections. The problem is Cebu City sat on its laurels as the only city with a modern traffic lighting system. Before I resigned as CITOM chairman, I already purchased a mother computer that would handle all the 80 intersections. Unfortunately, not all intersections were fixed and so today, SCATS isn’t working as it did in the early 1990s!
As we learned from the press conference with Councilor Jerry Guardo only 72 of 80 controllers and 118 of 658 detectors are operational in the existing SCATS. He added, “Ang nakanindot man gud sa detector out of 100 percent, 20 percent lang ang functional so ang kato man gung detector mo-detect siya sa density sa traffic. So kung ang kani nga street wala nay sakyanan dili na traffic automatic mo-change to siya ang system mo-transfer siya ang traffic light sa pikas, kung asa to ang heavy ang traffic mao ang paspasan sa time, mo- extend ang time.” Thank you Councilor Guardo for your honest assessment of Cebu’s traffic situation.
Then councilor Guardo added there are eight international and local private suppliers that want to upgrade the city’s traffic system. But before you go into an upgrade, Councilor Guardo, you should look at the heavy traffic today because even if we had a new traffic lighting system, it will not solve our traffic mess.
Mind you, I was in the United Kingdom and in Toulouse, France, last July with Philippine Airlines and I learned that in England, they have adopted the roundabout system that is quite common in France. A roundabout system is similar to the rotunda near the Development Bank of the Philippines or near Sto. Rosario. But alas, because he didn’t know that the system was better, the late traffic chief Sammy Darza had this rotunda removed and replace with a traffic lighting system. Hence there is a traffic clog in that corner when there was none before.
Mind you, when he was alive, the late councilor Rogelio “Jing Jing” Osmeña talked to me about making a roundabout in JY Square. Right now it is a triangle and traffic is bad in the area especially at 5 p.m. because of the traffic signal light. But if we created a roundabout in the area, we won’t need to put a traffic signal anymore and cars going to Beverly Hills do not need to turn left anymore and cause more traffic but go around the roundabout. Isko Ouano can check Ms. Rose Dosdos of CCTC to find out if she still has the studies we had about a roundabout.
If we constructed a roundabout in JY Square, then another one corner M.J. Cuenco and Mango Avenue and restored the old roundabout in Osmeña Boulevard near DBP, I have no doubt that traffic will improve in many important intersections in Cebu City. Of course our whole problem is Mayor Tomas Osmeña doesn’t believe in suggestions that did not come from him.
The other problem is Cebuano drivers need to be taught on how to pass through a roundabout. It is unfortunate that today Cebuano drivers still use the leftmost lane while driving a truck or slow vehicle. Right now, there are areas that do not have functional controllers including Panganiban Street, M.C. Briones Street, P. Burgos Street, Imus New Road, J.C. Vera, Pope John Paul II, F. Llamas, and M. Velez. There are also other streets that need a traffic system like S. Osmeña, Urot, Cabahug Street, M.J. Cuenco, Modesta, Gorordo, N. Bacalso, F. Jaca, M.L. Quezon, Governor Cuenco Cabancalan, F. Llamas, and Tres de Abril. But if we constructed roundabout in Cebu City it would greatly improve our traffic situation.
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