IN Parañaque City, it will take one and a half to two hours to traverse the 4.8-kilometer Sucat Road before reaching the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
“Because of the monstrous traffic here in Sucat, we’re thinking of bringing pillows so we can get sleep while taking a ride on a jeep,” said Benjo Santos, 23, an airport employee and among the commuters who are complaining the worsening traffic condition on the now called Dr. Arcadio Santos Avenue.
Motorist Raul Fernandez, a resident of Merville, is also complaining the lack of police personnel managing traffic along Sucat. “Are they afraid of the heat of the sun or getting wet during rainy days?”
The city government of Parañaque City attributed the traffic gridlock from the expressway projects and other road projects undertaken by the national government to ease traffic in Metro Manila.
According to Mario Jimenez, city chief information officer, the construction of the multi-billion expressway project which will be moved first quarter of next year will cause heavy traffic not only in Sucat Road but also in the areas of Merville, Andrews Avenue and Airport Road.
City Hall officials advised commuters and motorists to brace for the anticipated traffic in major thoroughfares until 2020 because the construction of the first phase of the Cavitex C5 Link Expressway faces delays because of the right-of-way issue.
San Miguel Corp. and the Citra group of Indonesia, operator of South Luzon Expressway have yet to sign the memorandum of agreement, while the three other signatories—Public Works Department, Transportation Department and Cavitex already signed the deal.
Construction of the first phase of Cavitex C5 Link was supposed to start in July, to link C5 and Merville, Parañaque by way of a flyover. The second phase, which would start in 2017 to link Merville and Cavitex, would cost P9.5 billion.
Also, the local government earlier came up with a decision suspending the reimplementation of its number coding scheme in the city following strong clamor from drivers complaining the absence of window hours in the scheme.
Mayor Pablo Olivarez said the reimposition of the unified vehicle volume reduction program, or the number coding scheme, on all roads of the city has been moved next month after members of the city council amended the earlier approved ordinance.