MMDA wants narrower, more EDSA lanes

THE METROPOLITAN Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has recommended to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) the narrowing down of lane width along EDSA to give way to an additional one as part of its traffic solution scheme.
“There was already a discussion with DPWH… The existing lanes will be narrowed to accommodate one more lane. So probably next year, if there will be a program and be included in the budget of DPWH,” EDSA Special Traffic and Transport Zone chief Edison Nebrija, speaking in mixed English and Filipino, said in a phone interview with BusinessWorld on Thursday, Dec. 27.
Mr. Nebrija noted that EDSA lanes are currently 3.4 meters wide, “which is standard and proportionate to the traffic scheme before.”
Nowadays, he noted, there is a much higher volume of vehicles using the main thoroughfare and the “traffic speed today is different from the traffic speed before.”
Highway lane width around the world vary from 2.5 meters to 3.7 meters. According to a study by World Resources Institute in 2016, cities with travel lane widths from 2.8 to 3.25 meters have the lowest crash fatality rates per 100,000 residents.
The MMDA official said the additional lane is eyed to be for private motor vehicles only.
“We cannot widen EDSA anymore. EDSA is EDSA as it is right now… The engineering intervention we can do is to add one more lane without widening the road. (But the) real solution for now without the engineering intervention is volume reduction,” he said. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras