Bypass road should do it at Luisita Mall

Al S. Mendoza

WHAT Jojo Binay should also look

into are bus/jeepney stops that

directly block traffic.

For example, the bus/jeepney stop at the corner of

Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and Don Antonio

Heights from across Ever-Gotesco directly blocks traffic coming

from Don Antonio Heights.

Everyday of the week, traffic is almost clogged there because

Commonwealth-bound vehicles are always blocked by public

conveyances that deliberatly load/unload passengers at said

area.

You can't blame the jeepneys and buses. A loading sign is

posted there.

Please see if you can fix the situation there, Se?or Binay?

* * *

Tricycles also contribute to the daily mess in that area as the

parking space designated for pedicabs there is absolutely out of

place.

Banks nearby also find the situation as unbearable as

hell_almost everyday.

Vehicles turning left from Commonwealth Avenue on their way

either to Don Antonio Heights or other interior subdivisions

within the district find an almost daily nightmare coping with

tricycles suddenly darting from their parking area onto Don

Antonio Street.

Accidents have happened there many times already as you can

just imagine how tricycle drivers drive_it is as if they own the

road, it is as if they can't die.

Are we trying to wait for deaths to occur in that area before

something concrete is done to remedy the situation?

Again, please do something about this, Se?or Binay?

As you said a while back in your letter to me, "Please give

suggestions to improve the traffic situation in Metro Manila?"

Count on me, Sir.

Pag-utusan po ninyo.

* * *

I've noticed quite lately that aside from the clogging at the Sta.

Ines exit on the North Expressway, another bottleneck plaguing

motorists these days when they go up North is that one at the

Luisita Mall in Tarlac.

Gosh! Since that mall was erected along the McArthur Highway

some months back, traffic has worsened there by leaps and

bounds.

I talked to Joey Romasanta, a pillar at the Hacienda Luisita

which owns the Luisita Mall, sometime ago and he himself

admitted that traffic in the area has become that messy these

days.

* * *

There's just too many vehicles plying the area as people have

started to love going to the Luisita Mall, which is a healthy sign

that business is doing well in that part of Tarlac.

The eateries at the Luisita Mall are a relief to motorists because

sandwiches, fried chicken and pancit can be grabbed just after a

whistle-stop.

My suggestion--and the suggestion of many others who

regularly make trips to the North--is for a bypass road to be built

so that traffic wouldn't be concentrated alone at the mall.

Or, better yet, why not extend the North Expressway all the way

past Luisita, with a possible exit in Tarlac, Tarlac?

That would be such a big relief for all motorists as not

everybody, once the bypass road is built, would go get a bite all

at the same time at the mall. What can you say to that, Joey R?

* * *

And one more thing at the North Expressway.

Lately also, it's become very monotonously, "boringly" regular

to get bottled up at a stretch of the expressway because of a

narrow bridge in the Bulacan area going back to Manila.

Before, there was not much traffic there when you are

Manila-bound.

These days, though, traffic there is terrible--even when it's not a

holiday.

Try going to Manila from up North on a Sunday afternoon and

you'll find yourself cursing the traffic mess there, which,

usually, does not end up to midnight.

It's about time the bridge or bridges in that stretch get to be

widened.

* * *

Tomorrow, Arnel Doria and the rest of Honda's top guns will

trade shots with the golfers from media at the Manila Golf Club.

As I got an invitation to play, I'll try my best to be there.

Tintin Reyes will be there I'm sure to help make things in order

and ensure the presence of the journalists worth

remembering--the way she did last year.

Manila Golf Club is such a beautiful course to play, not because

it is located inside the plush Forbes Park, but because I find the

course always a challenge to play. It is short but tricky; its

up-and-down layout intimidates duffers like me.

I like the trees and the flowers, too, of Manila Golf Club.

God willing, I'll be there--to also renew ties with Arnel (the May

1 kid) and Tintin besides playing the game I love most.

* * *

QUOTE ME. When driving yourself, pull over when you are to

use the cell phone in the metropolis. Yes, there's a law against

using the cell phone when one's behind the wheel.