Malacanang yesterday reiterated it's appeal for public understanding and support for the construction of the Skyway Stage 3 as heavy traffic in major thoroughfares are expected to worsen as the project progresses. Motorist and commuters got the first taste of traffic nightmare with the start of the Skyway project yesterday. This will likely worsen and drag on for 4 years or before PNoy's term ends in 2016 as other projects are also set to begin construction. With Skyway project heavy traffic is expected in Makati City through Manila as well as EDSA for those who will be taking alternate routes. Pres. Spokesman Lacierda said recall that traffic had also been terrible in the Southern part of Metro Manila during the construction of the Skyway Stage 1 and 2. A total of 13 infrastructure projects are scheduled to begin this year until 2016 before the end of PNoy's term. Exec. Dir. of MMDA Manalo warned that once construction began vehicles on the city's main roads would literally be reduced to crawling speed of 1Km to 9 Km per Hour or 0.6 Miles to 5.6 Miles compared to already slow normal 20 Km/Hr. Motorist and commuters fearful of getting stuck on the roads left home earlier than usual Monday. But with so many vehicles on the road as the day began traffic in and around Manila was snarled for hours Monday morning. The authority asked for contractors to provide staff to help direct traffic. Why this traffic nightmare in mind, MMDA Chairman Tolentino said the removal of "window" hours for vehicles covered by the Unified Vehicle Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP) of the number coding scheme is among the ideas that popped up during last week's traffic summit. Participants of the summit stressed that removing the window hours between 10 am to 3pm would greatly relieve the anticipated problems of traffic volume that may be caused by the overlapping construction of 15 major road projects in the metropolis.
