INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will impose a moratorium on road excavations and diggings in Metro Manila to reduce the expected traffic congestion this holiday season.
During the Metro Manila Council (MMC) meeting with MMDA Chairman Emerson Carlos on Tuesday, MMDA Traffic Engineering Center Director Noemi Recio said the two-week stoppage of road works will begin at midnight on Dec. 14, 2015 up to midnight on Jan. 3, 2016.
Recio said the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has 146 ongoing road projects in the metropolis.
鈥淚f we can stop these projects, we are hopeful that traffic in Metro Manila would not be that heavy and would somehow ease the burden of shoppers during the Holidays rush,鈥漅ecio told the MMC during their meeting.
MMC is the policy-making body of the MMDA composed of the 17 local government units (LGUs).
Recio, however, said that an exemption would be implemented to the flagship projects of the national government such as the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Skyway and road works that do not obstruct or block vehicular traffic.
READ: NAIA Expressway, Skyway 3, LRT 2 to be delayed; traffic to worsen鈥揗MDA | HPG, MMDA brace for Christmas rush by clearing Metro Manila roads
鈥淎side from stopping [the excavations], the MMDA will also direct the violators [of the moratorium] to patch up the diggings so that motorists could use [the roads],鈥� she said.
Meanwhile, the MMC has approved an MMDA resolution, urging earth color as the standard color of all footbridges in Metro Manila.
鈥淭he move is to make a uniform color for all the footbridges constructed through the initiative by the LGU or by the national government,鈥� MMDA said.
MMDA said there are more than 100 foot bridges in Metro Manila, painted with different colors depending on the respective LGUs. CDG
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