by Lovely A. Carillo
Davao City is a growing metropolis and there is no question about that. However, this growth has led to a lot of questions and doubts regarding the city’s ability to absorb and manage such advance in terms of transportation density.
While the movement of vehicles along the main thoroughfares of the city is tolerable and still a far cry from Metro Manila’s maddening traffic situation, there are indications that the city may experience the same thing considering the growth of population not only of its human inhabitants, but that of the number of vehicles plying the streets as well.
Land Transportation Office records show that the number of vehicles registered in Region 11, where Davao City is the highly-urbanized center, shows an increase from 205,217 units in 2006 to 234,379 in 2008, an increase of 29,152 units..
“In Davao City alone, the number of registered vehicles increased by 6,313 between the 33,366 vehicles registered during the second quarter to 39,679 during the third quarter of 2009,” said LTO 11 director Atty. Jesus Zozobrado.
The total number of private vehicles increased from 30,069 during the second quarter to 34,170 during the third quarter. Even government vehicles increased from 373 to 585 during the same period. The number of registered for hire vehicles also increased by almost a hundred percent from 2,934 to 4,924.
The continuous increase in the number of motor vehicles in the city is expected to take its toll on the road infrastructures which, except for some cosmetic face lifting, seems to have remained the way they were several years ago.
Amid all this, it is surprising to note that the city is still following a traffic plan prepared by the University of the Philippines five years ago.
“This is the reason why we are meeting every week to fasttrack the approval of the proposed Traffic Code of Davao,” council committee on energy, transportation and communication chair councilor Pilar Braga told Edge Davao.
With a budget of P700,000, the Traffic Code which was conceptualized starting June 18, 2008, is expected to codify the various ordinances relative to traffic from 1957 to 2009.
“It is also expected to introduce amendments to existing ordinances to make them relevant to the times,” she said.
As of October 29 this year, the Traffic Code is 60% complete and is on schedule. Braga said the technical working group is in the middle of completing the final draft of the Code and is planning to call a Traffic Summit to validate the Code.
“Hopefully, the final document will be submitted to the city council by January 2010 so we can start working on it as a piece of legislation,” she said.
The Missing Equation
This piece of legislation is actually a very significant document that will be the basis of all the technical works that will have to be done in planning the traffic scheme of the city.
“We really have to start with the legal matters first and once it is approved, we can already proceed with the technical matters like coming up with strategies to control the carrying capacity of the road networks of the city,” Davao City Planning and Development Office Plans and Program Division chief Engineer Ardeno Armentano said.
One thing missing in the city, he said, are traffic engineers and traffic planners. These are experts whom we hire and contract with from as far as Manila to help us plan the flow of traffic and our road networking schemes in the city, he added.
Armentano said the density of the number of vehicles versus the road networks is increasing every year so we can always expect traffic to become a problem. The city can opt for road widening, he added, but since it will require expropriation (the taking of private and by the government subject to proper payment of the cost of the property) which can be rigorous in terms of the legal process and the financial requirement, another option would be the opening of new roads to traffic.
He said the rerouting schemes and the traffic policies on loading and unloading areas are already a product of the decisions made by the Traffic Management and Control Board and are no longer covered by the old traffic plan.
Armentano said they are banking a lot on the completion of the Traffic Code and its implementation once it becomes a law.
Traffic Code Contents
Braga said the Traffic Code will become the Bible of all road users, both passengers and motorists, as it will contain every policy and rule pertaining to the traffic situation of the city. including enforcement and obedience to traffic regulations, traffic control devices, speed restructions, one way streets, pay parking and even the rights and duties of pedestrians.
The Traffic Code is expected to be very exhaustive, to include even some provisions on the operation of animal-drawn carriages, bicycles and play vehicles; weight, size and load; parking meter zone; acts of dispatching, watch your car and penalties and procedures on arrests.
“Considering the road capacity is a very important aspect in planning the city’s traffic rules, and this is exactly what we are determining during the conduct of proceedings for the Traffic Code,” Braga said.
