Regalado Highway in Quezon City to be partially closed for 5 hours

A portion of Regalado Highway in Quezon City will be closed to traffic from 11 pm on Monday, February 26, to 4 am on Tuesday, February 27, due to Metro Rail Transit Line 7 (MRT7) construction.

According to Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Acting General Manager Jojo Garcia, the 5-hour closure will be implemented along northbound and southbound lanes from Bristol Street up to Commonwealth Avenue.

"This is to give way to pile testing activities that private contractor EEI Corporation will conduct in line with the construction of the Metro Rail Transit [Line] 7," Garcia said.

The MMDA said vehicles going to the Quezon Memorial Circle may take Quirino Avenue and Commonwealth Avenue. Alternatively, they can take Belfast Street and Mindanao Avenue.

Vehicles going to City of San Jose del Monte, Bulacan may take Mindanao Avenue and Regalado Avenue.

The private contractor will also conduct lane-marking activities from 11 pm to 4 am along Commonwealth Avenue, from University Avenue to the Philcoa area.

Lanes will be constricted due to the lane-marking activities, Garcia said.

"The contractors need to expand their work area in the middle but 7 lanes will remain for motorists' use," he added.

The MRT 7 will connect to the existing MRT 3 and Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT1), with the common station to be located between The Annex at SM North EDSA and Landmark Annex-TriNoma malls in Quezon City.

The MRT 7 will have 14 stations which will take 30 minutes to travel end-to-end: North Avenue, Quezon Memorial, University Avenue, Tandang Sora, Don Antonio, Batasan, Manggahan, Doña Carmen, Regalado Highway, Mindanao Avenue, Quirino, Sacred Heart, Tala, and Araneta-Colinas Verdes Subdivision.

Costly traffic

Metro Manila’s traffic mess is one problem that is proving too difficult to untangle. A confluence of events since many administrations ago has led to this nightmare in the capital.

Last week, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) estimated that the worsening traffic congestion in Metro Manila now costs at least P3.5 billion in lost opportunities a day — a jump from the estimated P2.4 billion a day in 2012.

The future does not seem to present much promise either.

According to the Jica study, Metro Manila’s population in 2015 was nearly 13 million while Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna and Cavite combined had almost 11 million. That puts Mega Manila’s population in 2015 at 24 million.

By 2025, Jica projected that Metro Manila’s population would be 16 million, and that of Mega Manila 38 million — becoming one of the largest cities in the world and, as a consequence, more congested.

The Metro Rail Transit Line 3 or MRT 3 that runs the stretch of Edsa could have helped much, but it has deteriorated so much that technical problems and stoppage have become a daily occurrence.

Yet Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade remains ever hopeful, saying he still felt there were solutions to address the MRT 3 problem. He was most likely referring to again tapping Sumitomo Corp. as MRT 3’s maintenance operator and finally privatizing its operations.

The Department of Transportation has been in talks with Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which had offered to take over the operations and rehabilitation of MRT 3.

Another potential solution has been pending for some time in Congress. In August 2016, Sen. Grace Poe filed Senate Bill No. 1284 seeking to give President Duterte emergency powers to address the traffic problem.

The measure, however, is in limbo, legislators having focused their priorities on the proposed shift to federalism and on televised investigations purportedly in aid of legislation.

Add to all these issues the lack of discipline on the road and you have the perfect storm insofar as choking Metro Manila’s streets is concerned.

Jica, which has been helping the Philippine government find solutions to the traffic problem, pointed out that the huge cost of congestion highlighted the need for new and modern infrastructure to ease the traffic situation.

One such undertaking is the initial phase of the Metro Manila Subway Project. Groundbreaking for the subway project has been moved to the third quarter of this year instead of early 2019. The 25.3-kilometer underground rail will connect Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City and Food Terminal Inc. in Taguig City, with a spur line to Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City. It will cost P356.9 billion.

It is just part of the Duterte administration’s ambitious “Build, build, build” infrastructure program to help ease the congestion, especially in the metropolis.

Under the program, the government will roll out 75 infrastructure projects, with about half targeted to be finished within Mr. Duterte’s term. A total of more than P8 trillion will be spent on modern infrastructure such as skyways, railways and bridges until 2022.

This is not to say that traffic congestion will disappear once the new roads and bridges and railways have been built. Sadly, traffic congestion in the future will still be very costly. The traffic cost is P3.5 billion a day in Metro Manila today. If nothing is done, Jica estimated, it would worsen to P5.4 billion a day by 2035.

With “Build, build, build,” it could be reduced to P3 billion a day. With additional projects other than those identified in the infrastructure program, it would be reduced to P2.4 billion a day, which is still a very high price to pay for traffic congestion.

We can only dream of the day when we citizens would have smart choices in going from one place to another. A subway/elevated train system, efficient public buses and taxis, all environment-friendly by running on electricity or natural gas. Or even dedicated bicycle lanes for the health buffs. These will all take a long time to implement. But now is the best time to start.

Read more: http://opinion.inquirer.net/111328/costly-traffic#ixzz58Bqq16Z8
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KMJS: Throwback SEA Games

Jessica Soho is the Philippines' answer to Oprah Winfrey, but exact twelve years and ten months ago she covered the 1995 visit of Pope John Paul II for the 10th World Youth Day in Manila, Philippines.

Now right after Pope John Paul's visit in 1995, viewers from the Philippines are coming to watch the 24th Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand live on GMA-7 and PTV-4 from December 6 to 15, 2007.

On November 1, a month before the Nakhon Ratchasima Southeast Asian Games, GMA executives led by Felipe Gozon, Jimmy Duavit, Felipe Yalong and Wilma Galvante together with Solar Entertainment's Wilson Tieng, PAGCor's Efrahim Genuino and PSC's William Butch Ramirez led the signing of contract to air the live coverage of the 24th Southeast Asian Games. The signing was held Tuesday at the Manila Golf and Country Club.

At this time, the national hosts of the regional multi-sports event coverage (aside from Soho herself) are Mike Enriquez, Mel Tiangco, German Moreno, Angelique Lazo, Vicky Morales, Pia Arcangel, Paolo Bediones, Arnold Clavio, Connie Sison, Mickey Ferriols, Miriam Quiambao, Suzi Entrata, Kara David, Lyn Ching, Margaux Salcedo, Arnell Ignacio, Susan Enriquez, Lala Roque, Antoniette Taus, Francis Magalona, Dingdong Dantes, Butch Francisco, Ricky Lo and Tito Sotto.

Former noontime show co-host Christine Jacob Sandejas, along with Patricia Bermudez-Hizon, Quinito Henson, Chino Trinidad and Mark Zambrano are served as commentators for sporting events.

The Network having their banners, pins and other souvenirs would be used.