A packet of a traffic solution

Age must have eroded my memory of the complete text of a favored quote. With sincere apologies to its author for somehow corrupting his line, I have to reinvent the quotation. It should run like: “Great things come in small packages.” I like to find its application to a modern scourge.

First, Cebu City and its neighboring cities experience horrific traffic. The problem is more pronounced in our area, Villa Aurora Subdivision in Barangay Kasambagan. Having resided here for more than four decades, I have seen how a quiet residential area transforms into a daily scene of traffic jams. On a short stretch of F. Cabahug Street alone, a distance of roughly 600 meters, we are lucky if we can negotiate it in 30 minutes! When I started residing here, we covered the same distance in one minute.

What is even more disturbing is while we are stuck in this area, some roads in the city, like the parallel S. Cabahug Street, have few cars running through. We observe hundreds of vehicles from Subangdaku, Mandaue City, going to Cebu Business Park, converge on F. Cabahug Street, most hours of the day. In other words, this road is the chosen principal link between Cebu City and Mandaue City.

It does not require rocket science to surmise flawed traffic management causes humongous gridlocks in our subdivision. While there is an exponential increase in the number of vehicles, the failure of traffic authorities to direct traffic to less-used roads aggravates the situation. Drivers of vehicles use F. Cabahug Steet and do not pass through S. Cabahug. Differently coined, if only a fraction of cars take S. Cabahug, traffic volume on F. Cabahug may be reduced proportionately. This is what I refer to as the “small package.”

But before authorities consider this small packet of an idea, there are “must things” to do on S. Cabahug Street. This road was built as part of the old Mabolo district. It was wide when constructed many decades ago because there were very few vehicles then. It is now narrowed by thousands of vehicles using it. The first “must-do” is to widen it.

The northern end of S. Cabahug Street stops at the southern gate of Casals Village. The street in this subdivision that connects S. Cabahug is wide but only residents can use all village roads. The motoring public is restricted. This particular street has to be opened to the public. I like to think the villagers understand the necessity of allowing free traffic flow through their subdivision. That is their help in partly solving the traffic problem. But, if, to them, social responsibility is unknown, government is not helpless. There is jurisprudence that buttresses this situation. So, while the widening is ongoing, government must open Casals Village to all motorists. This is the second “must-do.”

To reduce the volume of vehicles plying the Cebu-Mandaue-Cebu route, S. Cabahug Street must be extended from Casals Village to Hernan Cortes and on to A.S. Fortuna Avenue in Mandaue City. This is the third “must-do.” When this is done, there will have been four major avenues linking Cebu and Mandaue and somehow our traffic woes shall be alleviated.