Traffic light time in Cebu misappropriated?

The traffic engineers estimate that congested roads cost Cebu P1.1 billion per day. I’m not a traffic engineer but I think much of this cost is self-inflicted by those who set the traffic lights. Let me give you just one example:

Traffic flowing north/south on the SRP makes up greater than 90 percent of all the traffic flowing through this area. Traffic flowing on the roads crossing the SRP, east/west, is not as numerous so I’m going to guess it is at less than 10 percent.

The traffic lights are all set so that all of the east/west traffic gets between 160 to over 200 seconds. All the lights are also set for north/south travelers at 60 to 90 seconds. There are five lights going along this route crossing the SRP and all are set this way so it’s not a blunder; they are set this way on purpose.

In mathematical terms, this means the road with greater than 90 percent of the traffic is getting less than 37.5 percent of the green light time. It does not take a traffic engineer to notice it. While you’re sitting at the lights, the east/west cross traffic is finished crossing and you’re sitting there waiting for the light to change.

The experts (traffic engineers) may have done this for a good reason. I’ve driven in many countries but this is the first time I noticed such a considerable misappropriation of light time. - Rocky Cheadle