The problem of  Epifanio  delos Santos Ave. (EDSA) has turned out to be a multi-faceted one. All the while, we  were  concerned solely with the time-consuming traffic along Metro Manila’s principal thoroughfare.  It take two to three hour to travel the length of EDSA from Quezon City to Makati, so that EDSA  has  become  the  symbol  of  the region’s traffic  problem.

At the beginning of President Duterte’s  administration,  the Department of  Transportation began  to work on the EDSA  issue and  asked Congress for emergency powers which, the government said, are needed to solve it. Nothing came  of this  proposal and  the Metro Manila Development  Authority (MMDA) turned  to other proposed solutions,  including  the  removal of all provincial bus terminals from EDSA, which  has,  however, been challenged in court.

Last week, it was reported that the EDSA traffic is not just a transportation --  but  also a health – problem.  With all those buses, cars, and  utility  vehicles inching along the highway  most of the 24 hours of the day, EDSA has become a highly polluted place,  all the vehicles continuously emitting carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and other particles and gasses.

There is a Clean Air Act, Republic Act 8749, under which  the Department of Environment and Natural Resources  monitors  air quality around the country through  its  Environmental Management  Bureau’s Air Quality Management Section (AQMS). But  most of the stations monitoring  emissions from factories are, it is said, not  functioning. As for vehicles, AQMS data reportedly says 67 percent of 35,849 vehicles tested in 2018 failed their emission tests.

 The air pollution along EDSA is principally  a  problem  for  those  constantly exposed  to it during most  of the day, particularly  traffic officers.  All  that  pollution is having ill effects on the health of these government  workers, as well as other people working and living in the high-pollution areas. The Department of Health may  have to step in on this matter.

But the basic EDSA problem is still the traffic. Last Monday, Secretary Mark Villar of the Department  of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), speaking in the first of a series of pre-SONA forums ahead of the President’s  State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 22, said EDSA traffic will  return to “acceptable” levels by  the end of the President’s term in 2022. That is three years from now.

It  doesn’t  quite  jibe with the President’s own optimistic projection that by December, a trip from  Cubao  to Makati  along EDSA should  take just five minutes. Very likely, the President’s hopeful projection  is  part of his usual exuberance  and exaggeration,  although presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo  said the President may be planning  something.

Secretary  Villar’s projection  of three years is probably more realistic. We just  have  to adjust to the fact that  our  vehicle population has simply grown way beyond the capacity of our road system. The DPWH is moving  solidly with its projects to ease  EDSA traffic. We  hope  the  other  departments  of  the government will also be taking resolute action on the related problems of  air pollution and   health.