Experimental traffic scheme creates furor among Baguio folk

By Julie G. Fianza

BAGUIO CITY – The experimental traffic scheme here is still on despite the controversy it generated among residents on whether it should continue or stop.

Vice Mayor Daniel Farinas called for more patience from the public as the experimental one-way traffic scheme was undertaken for Session Road 2 and North Drive.

He added the traffic summit was needed to alleviate the city’s traffic woes while traffic authorities and legislators meet and study traffic laws, resolutions and ordinances and update such, if needed.
This came on the heels of the clamor of several Public utility transport lines that they now traverse a more circuitous route, specifically along upper Session road, up to Session road extension junction.

There were requests that the experimental period be cut short, the vice-mayor said, adding four days into the present one-way route along Session road 2 and North Drive would not be enough to evaluate the effectivity of the scheme.

“There should be no exclusivity in the implementation of the traffic experiments,” the vice mayor said, and that more people should be benefited by the schemes.

Citing experimental traffic schemes such as the one-way route around city hall, as undertaken last month, the Vice-Mayor said the experiment would reveal the best solution if it takes at least a month.

The experimental schemes were recommended by the city’s traffic authorities to decongest the central business district’s perennial traffic problem.

Earlier, Mayor Reinaldo Bautista, Jr. issued Administrative Order 12 for city hall one-way road and AO 14 for Session road.

Information dissemination, removal of structures, posting of signages, pavement markings, and barricades were installed along the route to assure the smooth flow of traffic, the vice-mayor said.
Volunteers were also with the members of the police force to implement the traffic scheme, he also said.

Normal traffic goes on at the main Session road artery, but the upward route goes one-way from upper Session Road, from the road in front of Baguio City Post Office, through Session road 2, along Casa Vallejo, the City Social Welfare and Development Office, National Bureau of Investigation Office up to the Rotunda at the back of the Professional Regulations Commission building towards Session road extension.

Vehicles, however may turn left at side of Postal Bank and merge with traffic at Fr. Carlu St. and the road fronting the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG-CAR) office, to merge with the traffic along Northdrive road.

The one-way scheme is also in effect from the junction of Session road extension, through the road in front of the PRC building, towards Northdrive road from DILG CAR, towards the junction of Leonard Wood road, along the Bureau of Internal Revenue building through Leonard Wood road, to merge with the traffic at Fr. Carlu street at the back of the Post Office, along the side of Patria de Baguio building towards the main Session road.

Parking shall not be allowed along the entire route of the traffic scheme.

Recommendations after the thirty day period shall be given, to ascertain whether the traffic scheme is effective, and ready for permanent implementation, Farinas said.