Footbridges near high-tension wires
Footbridges near high-tension wires
Updated 09:28pm (Mla time) Jan 04, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the January 5, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE METRO Manila Development Authority has bared its plans for the new year to ease the traffic gridlock that is the bane of the metropolis. The plans include the extension of the number-coding to Saturday and the construction of more footbridges as well as elevated U-turn roads. The latter would be like miniature flyovers and would therefore cost a lot of money.
Complementing the footbridges are steel fences on the median islands to prevent pedestrians from crossing the street below the footbridges, thus making Metro Manila look like Laguna Lake with all its fish pens.
The MMDA's new pink-and-blue steel footbridges are attractive compared to the old solid, heavy concrete pedestrian overpasses that, alas, have become a haven for sidewalk vendors and holdup artists. Because the concrete sidings cover them from below, vendors have practically appropriated for themselves some pedestrian overpasses. And because the roof of the overpass protects them from sun and rain, they made some overpasses their living quarters. What's more, because streamers of politicians and commercial billboards cover the "windows" of the overpasses, they have become some sort of private enclave for vendors, squatters, snatchers and holdup men. Visit the Philcoa overpass in Quezon City and you will see what I mean.
My own granddaughter, coming home from school, was held up there before Christmas and her cell phone was taken. There were many people on the overpass, mostly vendors, but nobody helped her. The felon must have many friends among them.
That is why many pedestrians avoid going up the overpass at night and thus risk life and limb crossing at street level. Some overpasses are dimly lighted or not lighted at all. Either the MMDA's maintenance people are negligent or the vendors and derelicts who sleep on the overpasses deliberately steal the bulbs to keep the place dark.
Thus, the new steel footbridges are better. You can see the people up there from below and they are lighted by the street lamps. And because they have no roofs, they're no good for vendors and squatters. The danger is when politicians put too many streamers and billboards on them so that the people cannot see what is going on up there.
But the other side of the coin is this: The new footbridges are dangerous. Some of them are situated very near high-tension wires of Meralco. Pedestrians using them can get electrocuted if the wires are not relocated. Steel is a very good conductor of electricity. Look at the new footbridges on Commonwealth and Quezon Avenues, a number of them are only a few feet below high-tension wires carrying thousands of volts of electricity. The one being constructed (very slowly) at the corner of Commonwealth and Tandang Sora is even situated below two transformers.
Remember the transformer that exploded in Tondo and poured boiling oil on schoolchildren below?
There are no high-tensions wires around the Quezon Memorial Park opposite the Quezon City Hall, but the city government does not want footbridges there. This is a very wide rotunda, with 12 lanes and no median island. Pedestrians crossing over to the park have to hurdle hundreds of vehicles speeding around the Circle. There are no traffic lights to stop oncoming traffic while pedestrians are crossing. A traffic aide directs traffic near City Hall but nowhere else. Footbridges are urgently needed here, but I understand Mayor Feliciano Belmonte prefers an underpass instead so as not to spoil the skyline with footbridges.
But an underpass soon becomes a haven for vendors, squatters and derelicts, as what happened to the underpasses in Quiapo and Plaza Lawton. Until Mayor Lito Atienza decided to cleanse and reopen them, they were largely unused because people were afraid to go down there.
I think Belmonte should dwell on this. Lighting up the underpasses and posting policemen in them 24 hours a day will rack up a hefty maintenance bill, not to count the cost of digging up the street with the resulting traffic chaos. I think the footbridge is the lesser evil.
* * *
Let's go now to the U-turn slots. Isn't the MMDA overdoing this?
All the intersections are blocked and motorists have to drive a few blocks in search of a U-turn slot. Because half of the street is blocked to protect U-turning vehicles from accidents, the system has only increased bottlenecks. A four-lane street becomes a two-lane one every few blocks and traffic piles up.
Undoubtedly, the U-turn slots have improved traffic in some places, but I think doing the same thing under the flyovers is overacting already.
Look at the Quezon Avenue-Edsa and Kamuning flyovers. Vehicles going north and south use the flyover; vehicles going east and west use the underpass. The ground level therefore should be used by left-turning vehicles. But big concrete blocks bar the way of vehicles that want to turn left or drive straight through. Instead they have to make a U-turn under the flyover. In the process, the center lane is also blocked and only two lanes are left on each side. Hence, more bottlenecks. I think this needs a second look, too.
This is obviously the reason for the MMDA's plan to build for elevated U-turn passages, to avoid the bottlenecks below. But as stated earlier, they will cost a lot of money. That is in addition to the cost of extra fuel to be used by hordes of vehicles looking for a U-turn flyover kilometers away from where they want to go.
Updated 09:28pm (Mla time) Jan 04, 2005
By Neal Cruz
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A12 of the January 5, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE METRO Manila Development Authority has bared its plans for the new year to ease the traffic gridlock that is the bane of the metropolis. The plans include the extension of the number-coding to Saturday and the construction of more footbridges as well as elevated U-turn roads. The latter would be like miniature flyovers and would therefore cost a lot of money.
Complementing the footbridges are steel fences on the median islands to prevent pedestrians from crossing the street below the footbridges, thus making Metro Manila look like Laguna Lake with all its fish pens.
The MMDA's new pink-and-blue steel footbridges are attractive compared to the old solid, heavy concrete pedestrian overpasses that, alas, have become a haven for sidewalk vendors and holdup artists. Because the concrete sidings cover them from below, vendors have practically appropriated for themselves some pedestrian overpasses. And because the roof of the overpass protects them from sun and rain, they made some overpasses their living quarters. What's more, because streamers of politicians and commercial billboards cover the "windows" of the overpasses, they have become some sort of private enclave for vendors, squatters, snatchers and holdup men. Visit the Philcoa overpass in Quezon City and you will see what I mean.
My own granddaughter, coming home from school, was held up there before Christmas and her cell phone was taken. There were many people on the overpass, mostly vendors, but nobody helped her. The felon must have many friends among them.
That is why many pedestrians avoid going up the overpass at night and thus risk life and limb crossing at street level. Some overpasses are dimly lighted or not lighted at all. Either the MMDA's maintenance people are negligent or the vendors and derelicts who sleep on the overpasses deliberately steal the bulbs to keep the place dark.
Thus, the new steel footbridges are better. You can see the people up there from below and they are lighted by the street lamps. And because they have no roofs, they're no good for vendors and squatters. The danger is when politicians put too many streamers and billboards on them so that the people cannot see what is going on up there.
But the other side of the coin is this: The new footbridges are dangerous. Some of them are situated very near high-tension wires of Meralco. Pedestrians using them can get electrocuted if the wires are not relocated. Steel is a very good conductor of electricity. Look at the new footbridges on Commonwealth and Quezon Avenues, a number of them are only a few feet below high-tension wires carrying thousands of volts of electricity. The one being constructed (very slowly) at the corner of Commonwealth and Tandang Sora is even situated below two transformers.
Remember the transformer that exploded in Tondo and poured boiling oil on schoolchildren below?
There are no high-tensions wires around the Quezon Memorial Park opposite the Quezon City Hall, but the city government does not want footbridges there. This is a very wide rotunda, with 12 lanes and no median island. Pedestrians crossing over to the park have to hurdle hundreds of vehicles speeding around the Circle. There are no traffic lights to stop oncoming traffic while pedestrians are crossing. A traffic aide directs traffic near City Hall but nowhere else. Footbridges are urgently needed here, but I understand Mayor Feliciano Belmonte prefers an underpass instead so as not to spoil the skyline with footbridges.
But an underpass soon becomes a haven for vendors, squatters and derelicts, as what happened to the underpasses in Quiapo and Plaza Lawton. Until Mayor Lito Atienza decided to cleanse and reopen them, they were largely unused because people were afraid to go down there.
I think Belmonte should dwell on this. Lighting up the underpasses and posting policemen in them 24 hours a day will rack up a hefty maintenance bill, not to count the cost of digging up the street with the resulting traffic chaos. I think the footbridge is the lesser evil.
* * *
Let's go now to the U-turn slots. Isn't the MMDA overdoing this?
All the intersections are blocked and motorists have to drive a few blocks in search of a U-turn slot. Because half of the street is blocked to protect U-turning vehicles from accidents, the system has only increased bottlenecks. A four-lane street becomes a two-lane one every few blocks and traffic piles up.
Undoubtedly, the U-turn slots have improved traffic in some places, but I think doing the same thing under the flyovers is overacting already.
Look at the Quezon Avenue-Edsa and Kamuning flyovers. Vehicles going north and south use the flyover; vehicles going east and west use the underpass. The ground level therefore should be used by left-turning vehicles. But big concrete blocks bar the way of vehicles that want to turn left or drive straight through. Instead they have to make a U-turn under the flyover. In the process, the center lane is also blocked and only two lanes are left on each side. Hence, more bottlenecks. I think this needs a second look, too.
This is obviously the reason for the MMDA's plan to build for elevated U-turn passages, to avoid the bottlenecks below. But as stated earlier, they will cost a lot of money. That is in addition to the cost of extra fuel to be used by hordes of vehicles looking for a U-turn flyover kilometers away from where they want to go.
posted by Dante at 12:00 AM
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