Traffic congestion is a common problem in cities worldwide. It happens when the number of cars exceeds road capacity, resulting in longer travel times and dramatically slower movement.
Manila, the capital of the Philippines, is notorious for its congestion and is identified as the worst city in the world after Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and Jakarta.
Manila’s traffic congestion is the worst in the world, and the capital city has the highest population density at 2,857 people per square kilometer or 111,002 people per square mile.
The high volume of vehicles, poor public transport services, missing and incomplete road networks, and inefficient transport and traffic management institutions contribute to the traffic congestion in Metro Manila.
ABS-CBN reports that in March 2023, the country’s president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., inaugurated a new expressway in Manila, the NLEX Connector Road. The president enthusiastically endorsed the project as a solution to alleviate the city’s congestion, cutting significant travel time between Caloocan, the northern city in Metro Manila, and the country’s capital, Manila.
The distance between the two points is approximately 25 kilometers; however, it currently takes over an hour to travel between them. President Marcos announced that the new expressway could reduce travel times between the two cities to as little as 5 minutes.
People who used the partially completed expressway took no time to share their positive experiences on social media.
However, the country’s transportation expert warns that the new highway’s early buzz about easing traffic and slashing travel times could be short-lived.
Benefits of the NLEX connector road in Manila, Philippines
Expanding and building new roads and highways offers advantages. Expressways connect places that would not have been connected before. They also facilitate the movement of goods and services between areas of the region, which is critical for economic growth and opens job and business opportunities for many.
As this newly constructed NLEX connector Road will link to ramps going to Manila North Harbor, it can service commercial trucks and freight-moving vehicles that would otherwise use the local roads, which could help ease congestion in them.
The article notes that as far back as 2011, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Japan’s governmental agency chartered with assisting and implementing development aid to support the socio-economic development of developing countries, suggested the pressing need for a connector road linking the northern and southern regions of Luzon.
Adding roads is a temporary solution to ease congestion, mobility experts warn.
Although the short-term benefits are undeniable, mobility experts caution that expanding road capacity is not the sustainable solution to Metro Manila’s traffic woes. Traffic congestion has worsened all over the metropolis despite the addition of new roads and a skyway.
Manila’s growing number of cars contributes to congestion. Expanding highway networks or adding more roads will not solve the long-term congestion problem.
An example is the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 (Skyway 3). Launched in 2021 under the Public Private Partnership program, the elevated tollway was also touted as a solution to ease traffic congestion. But just after a few years, the Skyway 3 experienced severe congestion during peak hours.
This phenomenon is known as “induced demand.” Transportation engineer Syrus Gomari of Mobility Vision+ says the entire focus of building Skyway 3 is to expand road capacity but without the aim of changing behavior. The result is that people will start using cars because they think it is the fastest way, until during peak hours when it is not.
A 2022 study by JICA found that traffic congestion has only intensified despite the increasing number of roads in Metro Manila. Travel demand grew by 26% between 2012 and 2020, as did time spent traveling due to congestion.
Despite worsening congestion in Manila, car ownership continues to rise. Data from the Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) and the Truck Manufacturers Association (TMA) show that private car sales increased by 6.6% in August 2024 compared to the previous year.
Long-term solutions to Manila’s congestion
According to transportation experts in the country, the deeper problem lies in Metro Manila’s lack of viable public transportation options. Many Filipinos who can afford a car see it as a more practical way to travel than public transportation, which is often unreliable and overcrowded.
Experts also note that the long-term solution for Manila’s worsening congestion is investing in people-centric instead of car-centric infrastructure. Investing in pedestrian infrastructure, such as sidewalks, trails, crosswalks, intersection designs, and infrastructure for walking and cycling – which the city lacks- will offer multiple modes of transport.
Another solution is increasing mobility through higher-capacity transport modes like railways and bus rapid transit.
However, these solutions are not straightforward in Manila and other mega-cities in developing countries. Developing and building a comprehensive transportation system is time-consuming and costly, and delays can quickly make these projects exorbitant.
As with the new NLEX Connector Road in Manila, the highway will likely follow the fate of other highways in the city, becoming congested during peak hours unless the city invests in people-centered urban planning and active transportation infrastructure.
Sources:
Pedestrian Infrastructure. (n.d.) Street Smart. Retrieved from https://www.thinkstreetsmart.org/pedestrian-infrastructure.html
Hilotin, J. (2024, April 12). Why is Manila traffic the worst in the world? Here’s how to solve it. Gulf News. Retrieved from https://gulfnews.com/special-reports/why-is-manila-traffic-the-worst-in-the-world-heres-how-to-solve-it-1.1712762902109
Guda, K. (2024, October 13). ‘Infrastructure to move people, not cars, will solve traffic congestion’. ABS CBN. Retrieved from https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/10/13/-infrastructure-to-move-people-not-cars-will-solve-traffic-congestion-1400
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