- Ziggurat Realestatecorp
- Jun 24
- 4 min read
The pause in the EDSA Rebuild program ordered by President Bongbong Marcos came at the right time. As Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon underscored, a major rehabilitation of EDSA happens only "once in a lifetime." We should therefore not miss the opportunity to refashion EDSA so that it serves all of us better and correct its many defects and deficits. Before proceeding, all agencies involved should be clear on the outcomes to be achieved.
The EDSA that we need is one that is safe, walkable, green, inclusive, conducive for mass transit, accessible for persons with disability and efficient for the movement of goods and people. When road space is limited, it should be devoted to the most productive and inclusive travel modes. A lane filled mainly with private cars moves only 600-1,600 persons per hour. A lane devoted to mass transit can move 10,000-25,000 persons per hour, while sidewalks and bike lanes can move five to 10 times more people than a motor vehicle lane.
EDSA Rebuild is an opportunity for the government to give full meaning to its policy pronouncements about prioritizing sustainable transport modes — public transport, walking and cycling. Under the National Transport Policy's implementing rules, "inclusive mobility and accessibility shall be achieved through the prioritization of people-mobility over vehicle-mobility ... In addition, provision for nonmotorized and active transport, such as walking and cycling, shall be incorporated in the design and implementation of transport projects."
In addition, the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 declares that "pedestrians and cyclists enjoy highest priority in the hierarchy of road users." The principle of "moving people, not cars" is also echoed in the Philippine Road Safety Action Plan 2023-2028, which underscores the point that the safety of all road users is of far greater importance than enhancing the flow or travel speed of motor vehicles.
The logic is clear. The current prioritization of EDSA for four-wheeled motor vehicles makes little sense and is a waste of public resources when we consider that cars are the least efficient use of road space and are major contributors to urban traffic, heat, noise and pollution. Studies show that only 11.5 percent of Greater Manila households are owners of four-wheeled motor vehicles. This calls for a transformation of EDSA so that it serves the needs of the majority and the most vulnerable. Cars should be among the users of a redesigned EDSA, but not its top priority.
The painful lesson we have learned over decades is that an EDSA devoted to moving cars is one of the root causes of Metro Manila's traffic and mobility crisis. A car-centric EDSA compels more Filipinos to use a private motor vehicle instead of walking, cycling or using public transport. To reverse this, we need an EDSA that will serve the range of different travel modes while ensuring that the most efficient and inclusive ones are safe, convenient and attractive. For short distances, walking or cycling should become the preferred travel option — very much possible on an EDSA with spacious and shaded sidewalks.
We also need an EDSA that is compliant with various accessibility laws — an obligation that has remained unfulfilled for decades by the very agencies tasked with their implementation. Several laws already guarantee that public infrastructure should not create a barrier for persons with disability: Batas Pambansa 344, the Magna Carta for Disabled Persons and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (which has the force of law in the Philippines). In this context, all agencies involved in the EDSA Rebuild are obliged to remedy EDSA's disgraceful lack of compliance, an infrastructure deficiency that affects the lives of millions of Filipinos in Greater Manila who have some form of physical incapacity. EDSA Rebuild should demonstrate how the rights of persons with disability can be fully respected on our roads.
Every day on EDSA, there are lives lost and bodies maimed, in large part because authorities continue to give paramount importance to achieving faster vehicle speeds despite the obvious danger for all road users. EDSA was a highway decades ago, but the land uses and the urban environment are significantly different today. With EDSA traversing many dense population areas and commercial centers, it needs to serve a diverse set of road users, not only four-wheeled motor vehicles. It should be redesigned as a boulevard and no longer be an expressway.
The Philippine Road Safety Action Plan 2023–2028 calls for lower speed limits. The global safety prescription is a maximum of 30 kilometers per hour (kph) on urban roads — this is what we should push for along the entire stretch of EDSA. A lower speed limit for EDSA is already mandated by law, but ignored by concerned authorities. The Land Transportation and Traffic Code requires that the maximum speed limit should be 20 kph "through crowded streets."
Joint Memorandum Circular 2018-001 defines "crowded streets" as streets "with heavy pedestrian traffic, including all streets within a 500-meter radius of schools, public transportation terminals, markets, government buildings, churches and other places of worship, recreational places, facilities frequented by the youth, parks, shopping malls, movie houses, hotels, restaurants and other public places as may be determined by the city or municipal government."
Experience already tells us that a higher EDSA speed limit is not relevant, because average vehicle travel speeds on it are already quite low (closer to 20 kph). A car on a congested EDSA gains nothing from a higher speed limit. With a lower limit, however, we not only make EDSA safer for all, we also make alternative travel modes more attractive for everyone.
A transit- and people-oriented EDSA will have a huge positive impact on the lives of millions of Filipinos. An EDSA that prioritizes public transport, pedestrians and cyclists, and empowers persons with disability will be able to move a larger volume of people and goods using the same road space. It will be safer, healthier, greener, cooler, more inclusive, more productive, more vibrant and attractive — an EDSA that every Filipino will be proud of.
Source: Manila Times