STEEL fences and concrete delineators in a portion of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue will be removed to further improve traffic in Quezon City, the Metro Manila Development Authority announced on Thursday.
Instead, according to MMDA acting chairman Thomas Orbos, the steel fences and concrete delineators placed from the southbound Edsa Timog Avenue to P. Tuazon Boulevard will be replaced with plastic barrier.
“We will replace it so it can be removed at any time when it needed,” said Orbos.
Orbos said provincial buses going to South Luzon Expressway are also banned from plying Edsa Timog Avenue up to P. Tuazon Boulevard from Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. until 10 a.m.
The MMDA has advised motorists and commuters to expect heavy traffic in the metropolis due to influx of shoppers and other holiday-related activities during the last two Fridays before Christmas Day.
Noemie Recio, head of the MMDA Traffic Engineering Center, said the agency will deploy more personnel to man the choke points on Edsa today (Dec. 16) and on Dec. 23, the last Fridays before Christmas Day when heavy traffic conditions are expected.
The seven major choke points along Edsa are Balintawak Market Road, Aurora Boulevard, Ortigas Avenue, Shaw Boulevard, Guadalupe, Ayala Avenue and Taft Avenue.
Recio said traffic in the metropolis would remain heavy for the holidays, reaching a peak on that dates when people go last-minute shopping and attend various events.
“A lot of people are going out. There are Christmas parties and reunions, and people from provinces are also going out to do shopping, attend events and visit friends and relatives in Metro Manila whole those from Metro Manila will go to the provinces to spend the holiday there,” she said.
The MMDA official said traffic volume also rises to 20 percent between November and December.
“We appealed to the people, if they don’t have important things to do on that day, it would be better for them to stay home. Be part of the solution, not of the problem,” Recio said.
