MIGEDC-JICA traffic social experiment yields results
The social and technical interventions such as social experiments to address traffic problems in Iloilo City are yielding results.
These interventions, designed by the Metro Iloilo-Guimaras Development Council (MIGEDC) in cooperation with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have been undertaken for the calendar years 2008-2009.
The social experiment was conducted to generate data on the situation of traffic and the response of motorists affected.
In late December 2008, there was the implementation of the Exclusive Left turn Lane on the Molo-Iloilo-Mandurriao Intersection (Locsin-Araneta Streets) fronting the Iloilo Supermart Molo and the Caltex Station, where traffic congestion occurs at peak hours of 6:30-8:00 in the morning and at 4:00-6:00 in the evening.
The interventions included street marking for directions, with a traffic police standing on the center of the intersection box.
The MIGEDC-JICA Project Team said that the social experiment data showed a spontaneous flow of vehicles to and from southern Iloilo to Mandurriao without distracting the flow of vehicles plying either direction.
In 2009, the MIGEDC introduced a Jeepney Bay experiment, which consisted of a 40-meter long infrastructure beside the Iloilo Doctors’ Hospital, next to the Timawa Avenue, now known as Leopoldo Ganzon Avenue.
The project team said the experiment introduced a well-ordered loading and unloading point between the IDH and the IDC, despite an initial confusion as to the use of the bay, which was also gradually eased with keen instructions from traffic aides, barangay tanods, and media announcements.
On the other hand, the first phase of the on-road parking introduced in February 2009 to establish a parking situation problem, created adverse reactions from the occupants and motorists alike.
Violations by motorists and building owners were tallied and documented during the second phase of the social experiment later last year, which included a lack of adequate parking areas for customers of establishments located in the area, hence, the use of the roads for parking, which resulted to traffic clogs.
The data which were generated by the social experiment, according to the project team, will be the basis for the fine to be exacted in the proposed toll for on-road parking.
Similar social experiments were also conducted in member-LGUs, like in Sta. Barbara for the Left Turn Prohibition as a scheme to smoothen traffic flow in Roosevelt Street, the town’s main highway, and San Miguel which did a social experiment on regulating the directional flow s in the streets near the public market.
The MIGEDC-JICA project team envisions a replication of the experiments throughout the city and in town streets to put more order and ease in traffic flow.
