‘Odd-even’ scheme back as Edsa rebuild starts
The government will implement drastic measures to minimize the public inconvenience to be brought by the two-year “Edsa Rebuild” project starting next month, including the revival of the odd-even scheme of the 1990s to significantly reduce the number of vehicles on Metro Manila’s busiest highway, and a toll holiday in portions of the Skyway Stage 3 that will be used as an alternate route.
In a press briefing on Monday, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Don Artes noted that implementing the odd-even scheme 24 hours a day along Edsa was necessary to avoid a “carmageddon” not only along the major thoroughfare but also on side streets designated as alternate routes once the rehabilitation works of Edsa start.
Under the odd-even scheme, vehicles with license plates ending in odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) are prohibited to use Edsa on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Vehicles with plates ending in even numbers (2, 4, 6, 8, 0) are not allowed to use Edsa on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The scheme will not be enforced on Sundays.
A dry run of the policy will first be implemented for a week starting June 16, where violators will be apprehended and issued violation tickets, but will not be fined or penalized.
Other measures
According to Artes, the MMDA will soon publish the alternate routes that motorists can take while the Edsa repair works are in progress and clearing operations will be conducted regularly in these routes to remove any obstructions that may further cause traffic.
In order to reduce more vehicles on Edsa, Artes said provincial buses, trucks and other big vehicles will be temporarily banned from entering Edsa from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Bike lane separators will also be removed along Edsa, while an exclusive motorcycle lane will be opened.
Secretary Vince Dizon said the Department of Transportation (DOTr) would also deploy 100 additional bus units along the Edsa Busway to encourage the public to commute instead of using private vehicles.
Dizon assured the public that the Edsa Busway will remain operational even while the Edsa rehabilitation is in full swing.
Additional trains and four-car train sets will likewise be running on the tracks of Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT 3) to increase the capacity of the train system and X-ray scanners in all stations of the MRT 3 will also be removed to decongest queues.
The rebuilding of Edsa is expected to last until 2027, with its preparatory works set to begin on the night of June 13, according to Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan.
Adjustments
The odd-even scheme, first implemented in April 1996 on Edsa, will be enforced 24 hours a day only on the 23.8-kilometer highway, while the number coding scheme, or the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program, with “window hours” (except for roads in Makati City) will still be implemented on other roads in Metro Manila.
“With the enforcement of the odd-even scheme, we are expecting a 40-percent reduction of vehicles along Edsa,” Artes said.
An average of 437,873 vehicles pass Edsa each day, exceeding its carrying capacity of 250,000, government records show.
“Without government interventions, we expect that the travel speed along Edsa will decrease by 20 percent, and traffic will worsen especially during the peak hours in the morning and evening,” Artes warned.
The MMDA, he said, may adjust the period of the odd-even scheme later on, and possibly include a window period from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. the next day.
Toll holiday
The waiving of the toll in some segments of Skyway Stage 3, which runs from Buendia in Makati City to Balintawak in Quezon City, may be implemented by July or August, but only in segments where the vehicles will be detoured, according to Dizon.
Artes noted that when Skyway Stage 3 was toll-free from its opening on Dec. 29, 2020, to Feb. 1, 2021, the volume of vehicles on Edsa was reduced by as much as 14 percent.
With both the free use of Skyway Stage 3 and the odd-even scheme, travel time on Edsa will improve during the two-year rehabilitation of the highway, Artes said.
The DOTr and the Toll Regulatory Board said they were working closely together to identify viable measures that would mitigate the projected revenue loss of San Miguel Corp., operator of the Skyway due to the planned toll holiday.
Scope of work
Roadworks will be done 24 hours a day to fast-track the project’s completion and to minimize the further disruption in the Edsa traffic.
The repair works will be done “by segments, one lane at a time,” starting from the innermost lane.
“The concept of the Edsa Rebuild is that we will change the pavement… In other words, we will dig up the existing pavement on Edsa, and we will replace it with a new [one] that is more durable,” Bonoan said.
“We will adopt the latest technologies on concrete mix. On top of the concrete mix that we will make, we will put a running surface with thick asphalt so that traffic will be smoother,” he added. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH
