THE Quezon City government has assured the riding public it is doing its best to mitigate the impact of heavy traffic due to the construction of the P69.30-billion Metro Rail Transit line 7 connecting the city to Bulacan.
In an interview, Dexter Cardenas, the city’s Traffic Operations Division head, said they have talked to village residents in affected barangays in Fairview to allow the use of their private roads to private cars as one of the traffic reduction measures of the inter-agency task force.
“We have also met with the managers of different schools, too,” he told the Manila Standard.
Among the few of the affected schools in the areas are the Our Lady of Fatima University, OB Montessori, AMA Computer College and STI College.
The traffic impact in Fairview “is not yet that heavy than the usual” because of the summer vacation, he said.
The problem of traffic lies in the “volume of vehicles,” and in any road engineering construction, he noted
However, he said with or without the MRT line 7 construction, traffic is already heavy in Fairview, Bulacan’s gateway to Metro Manila, during the rush hours of 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“There are more road users than roads,” he said.
Despite the closure of roads in Fairview, Cardenas said traffic will not worsen.
“With the other agencies, the city government has recommended the partial road closures only so that the other lane or lanes can still be passable to the motorists,” he said.
A road expansion of Regalado Highway by 1.5 meter each side is also being undertaken to ease congestion to be brought about by the MRT line 7 construction, he noted.
Because of the rerouting scheme, establishment of directional signs, deployment of more traffic enforcers, and massive information drive, traffic along Commonwealth Avenue to Fairview is not that worse, he said.
On April 17, the phase 1 project began along Commonwealth to Fairview with the closure of one lane along Regalado Avenue for two months.
“The other side of Bristol Street to Commonwealth Avenue will be closed to traffic for another 60 days. Another two months for the closure of the portion of Bristol Street to Mindanao Extension, while another 60 days for the closure of Mindanao to Bristol,” Cardenas said.
The MRT line 7 project includes the development of a 23-kilometer railway system with 14 stations from North Avenue, Quezon City to San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.
Once completed by April 2020, the train system is expected to initially accommodate 350,000 daily passengers and shorten travel time from the current 3.5 hours on the road to one hour.
“We are appealing to the public for its patience and understanding. The line system’s operation would spur economic development not only for Metro Manila and Luzon, but also for the country,” Cardenas said.