Dionisio Abude, chief of the Davao City Transport and Traffic Management Office (CTTMO) reported before members of the City Council on Tuesday that among the culprits why some traffic lights in Davao City are not functioning is due to the ongoing excavations and road widening by the Department of Public Works and Highways 11 (DPWH 11).
“Yung mga nasira ngayon na traffic lights with regards to the DPWH widening meron na kaming coordination, in fact, this week nagsubmit na ako ng report sa mga nasira dahil sa road widening,” Abude said.
Abude presented this after Councilor Pilar Braga inquired about the current traffic signalization status in the city last week.
He said there is a policy that before agencies like DPWH, telcos, and the Davao City Water District (DCWD) they could begin their excavations and road widening, there should be coordination with the CTTMO.
“So that there is a presence of our traffic planning in that area at para malaman namin kung may nasira before also they will restore the area excavated kailangan din namin meron din kaming presence. In violation of that seguro magkaroon tayo ng ipi-penalize natin para meron disiplina especially yung mga contractors kasi nakikita natin yung mga contractors sila ang walang concern na hintayin pa yung. Even from the City Engineers Office,” Abude explained.
The challenges being faced by CTTMO with regards to the traffic status include most of the traffic controllers are due for replacement; a number of busted lights and defective traffic cabinet components; other hardware are also due for replacement such as traffic light heads/lanterns; cut sensors and obstructing poles; need for re-cabling and retrenching; need to redesign most intersections; need traffic signal poles; need to redesign the network infrastructure; and no active traffic operations center.
There are a total of 62 intersections with traffic lights in Davao City wherein there are 29 traffic lights operational, five just flashing, 27 shut down, and one traffic light removed.
Abude said CTTMO is proposing a yearly annual budget of P10 million for the maintenance of the traffic lights. He also said a budget of almost P800,000 was needed for the replacement of the busted bulbs.
