According to Christian faith, perdition is defined as a state of eternal punishment and damnation. The word was originally defined as utter destruction. But today, it is just easier to visualize it simply as hell.
This must be what many roads in Metro Manila feel like today.
Anyone who returns now to Metro Manila after an extended stay abroad will easily marvel at the perceived progress that the capital has undergone. New tall buildings, skyways and highways have seemingly sprouted up from nowhere. The skyline has transformed and looking up to marvel at the brand new skyscrapers where cogon grass fields used to be has become a delight.
However, looking down at our roads is another story. Despite the development we have seen around the metropolis, it would seem that the improvement, or even just the maintenance, of existing roads has utterly been neglected.
I drove out to Tagaytay a couple of weeks ago and took the new Cavite-Laguna Expressway to get there. While the new highway is a treat while you are on it, as soon as you exit you will feel the pain and anguish of Third World neglect.
The new multi-lane roundabout at Laguna International Industrial Park is a virtual battleground as cars squeeze into the tight two-lane overpass towards the northbound exit of Mamplasan. And on the other end of CALAX, where you return to the Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road, you once again have to deal with the constricted, house-lined roads heading up to Tagaytay.
Further down south, on the way to San Juan, Batangas where you will most likely take the 21-year old Southern Tagalog Arterial Roadway, you will literally experience one of the choppiest rides ever on a modern roadway. The concrete surface along with the expansion joints between them can be felt all the way from Lipa to Ibaan. Cowl-shaking is an understatement as you can hardly speak without your vocal cords being affected by the vibrations. This is not one drive you would want to be connected to your car.
But one does not have to travel far to experience the sorry state of our roads. C5, once vaunted as the faster alternative to EDSA, has been in a state of disrepair for quite some time. As trucks are forced to use a single lane across the road’s entire length, they have caused severe rutting and depressions on that and the adjoining lanes. Just in front of the Eastwood commercial center is a rough patchwork of one asphalt overlay over another. Describing it as moonscaped is an understatement. And because it is the rainy season, there is the occasional pothole out of nowhere. But it is the sheer volume of vehicles along this road that is destroying it. I fear for motorcycle riders who zip along C5’s length and lose balance over the damaged sections.
Then of course, there is EDSA. The failed overall rehabilitation of the metropolis’ main artery is one of the causes of traffic in your daily commute. Having to slow down for ruts, or move from a lane that has suddenly decided to disappear hampers the flow of traffic. Rough concrete sections don’t do any good for your car’s suspension as well and may even cause premature damage to your car’s suspension components.
Funneling from four lanes to two is another cause of congestion as existing flyovers in Santolan are not designed to handle the growing volume of vehicles. Even the oddly placed exits to Ortigas avenue on both north and southbound directions of the Ortigas flyover add to the confusion as vehicles cut from the rightmost lane to the left to enter the ramps.
Since the introduction of the segregated bus lanes and bicycle lanes, road markings have become confusing in many areas. You are instructed not to use the bicycle lane but you will eventually have no choice once the lane markings converge or when you exit out of EDSA.
And despite the wisdom of urban planning experts who suggest that tighter lane widths that slow down traffic also cause less accidents, they also cause unwanted stress while driving as you now have to be on the edge every time as you try to avoid nicking the car, truck, or jeepney next to yours. Perhaps those who suggested this innovation did not consider the sheer amount of motorcycles that have sequestered the spaces between cars as their own de facto motorcycle lanes? Or the Filipino driver’s lack of ability to keep his vehicle in the middle of a lane for an extended period of time? Anyone who has taken Quezon Avenue can attest to this unwarranted driving annoyance.
With a new Department of Public Works administration under Manny Bonoan, himself an engineer and former DPWH Undersecretary, it is hoped that many of these failed concepts and designs are rethought and revised. As former president of SMC Tollways too, he should have the foresight to address our road networks’ seemingly endless list of flaws and failings and to bring them to world-class standards.
As taxpayers, this is the least we should expect from the government.
