MMDA says 30% of Metro Manila secondary roads are blocked

July 29, 2019

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said 30 percent of secondary roads in Metro Manila are blocked due to illegal construction and other street obstructions. 

"Right now more than thirty percent (of secondary roads) are impassable because it is blocked with obstructions," MMDA general manager Undersecretary Jose Arturo Garcia Jr. said in a press conference on Monday. 

Garcia explained that illegally parked vehicles are the primary cause of congested smaller roads connected to EDSA. He said once roads are cleared, traffic flow might improve along EDSA. 

"It is possible that traffic problems in EDSA will be reduced. Once the exit points or blocked roads are cleared, EDSA will have spacious passage," he said. 

Garcia said they are expecting resistance to road clearing. 

"(One of the possible challenges) is definitely the resistance. It's like what I said, people are accustomed to committing (road violations), therefore it will be hard for some to change it. Our traffic rules have been defiled," he said. 

He called for the participation of all Metro Manila local government units in the initiative and in coming up with solutions to possible problems which may happen as result of the road clearance. Cristina Eloisa Baclig/DMS