Not yet BRT!

Good things come in small packages. This old English idiom came to my mind when I heard the State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. and the speech of Cebu City Mayor Michael Lopez Rama. Of the many things they spoke about, three weeks apart, the bus rapid transit (BRT) planned infrastructure for Cebu City took my fanciful attention. For many years, this project has been floated, debated on and discussed quite extensively. We the ordinary citizens have heard the pros and cons. My late father, Napoleon, had a prostituted expression applicable to such verbosity “mucho habla, no hay “pika.” So, is Cebu City going to see the implementation of this “good thing” of a plan called BRT sooner than previously imagined?

Before we can get ecstatic over this ambitious project, there are rather “small packages” to think of instead. I like to believe that our city officials are aware of the huge traffic jam occurring daily on San Jose de la Montana/Salinas Drive stretching from the SM City on one end towards the JY Square on the other end. This is less than a kilometer in length yet this very short span can take a motorist about 30 minutes to negotiate. Oh, there was a time, long time ago, that i could drive leisurely from one end to the other in three minutes!

Today, the volume of traffic is incredible. Widening this San Jose de la Montana/Salinas Drive (I do not know the present name of this road) has become the more urgent thing to do. The fact is that I wrote about the need to widen this avenue few years ago but previous administrations did not consider the idea worth pursuing. So, I entertain the thought that in the new frames of mind of national and local leadership, this should be the first “small package” that demands their immediate attention. And, this is doable. The more recent structures that have been built along this road have already set back paving the way to build one more travel lane on each side.

The second “small package” that cries out for action is the Cabantan Street which runs parallel to San Jose de la Montana. Mayor Rama and his engineers must visit this area again. When opened in the early 1980s, this road only served as a side street for the small number of residents of Barangays Luz and Mabolo. This route was known as “luyo” to designate those public utility jeepney passengers residing somewhere at the back of the Mabolo church. But at present, even some motorists coming from the direction of Carreta and Hipodromo and going to Lahug and beyond do not take the wide access road leading to the Ayala. They drive thru Cabantan Street. As it is, this short Cabantan Street is narrow. At certain stretches, it is just a little wider than a single lane road and that is probably the reason why it is made as a one-way street.

Cabantan Street should not just be widened into a multiple lane road. It must be straightened. Widening and straightening this street can go hand in hand and the cost is arguably cheaper. Hitting two birds with one stone.

The present usage of Cabantan Street, however, actually neglects the foreseeable potential that it can serve a much wider area. If on the Mabolo end of this road, it is punched to connect the north reclamation area and on the opposite end, an extension towards Gorordo Avenue is built, it can become the needed artery to link several barangays and more importantly ease traffic in the Ayala area and San Jose de la Montano.

Every time we drive thru Cabantan Street, we notice parked vehicles and makeshift structures making the road narrower. There is therefore, an accompanying non-physical component to these “small packages.” It is managerial in aspect. Once the Cabantan Street is widened and lengthened, hopefully soon, parking should not be allowed, nor makeshift stalls tolerated.