Submitted by: Batallones, Desquitado, Cordero, Olivarez

The Inefficacy of Road Expansions: Why The Construction of More Roads

Leads to More Traffic

Statistics provided by Singaporean-based daily broadsheet newspaper, The

Strait Times, revealed that, in a year, the average Filipino will spend approximately 16

days stuck in traffic. This leads to a loss of about Php 100,000 in lost income

opportunities, adversely affecting the Philippine’s economy and citizens (Dancel, 2017).

To try and alleviate traffic congestion in the country, the Philippine government

continuously expands and constructs more roads to accommodate the ever-increasing

number of Filipinos utilizing the country’s roads and highways. Just recently, the

archipelagic state spent Php 568.8 billion on the construction of public infrastructures,

surpassing the Department of Budget and Management’s estimated budget of Php

549.4 billion (Vera, 2018).

While the improvement of the country’s roads and thoroughfares may seem like a

good solution to attenuate the traffic crisis in the country, the reality is that road

expansions are more often than not ineffective. Unbeknownst to the country’s

government, the construction of new roads and the expansion of pre-existing ones are

counter-productive as it causes a phenomenon called induced-demand. In economics,

induced-demand is the surge in demand for a certain good when the supply of the

aforementioned good has increased (Schneider, 2018). This phenomenon is observable

when a new road is constructed in a certain area to alleviate the traffic congestion
present in a pre-existing road. At first, the newly constructed road will provide a faster

and more relieved route to a certain destination. However, the comfort and efficiency

presented by the new road may convince other people to utilize the said road, therefore,

causing traffic congestion on the recently developed thoroughfare.

The paradoxicality of induced-demand is a problem that the Philippine’s various

government sectors seem to be oblivious to. For example, The Department of Public

Works and Highways (DPWH) continuously promotes the construction and widening of

highways and thoroughfares believing that the lack of quality roads is the main cause of

traffic congestion in the country. Citizens of the Philippines, however, should be aware

that the root cause of the traffic congestion that the country is experiencing does not just

stem from one problem but from multiple ones. The sheer volume of private vehicles in

the country, the lack of road discipline of most drivers, the inadequacy of public

transportation, and the absence of the implementation of technology all contribute to the

ongoing road congestions experienced by the Filipinos. If these problems were

addressed, then the problem of road congestion can be resolved efficiently without

wasting valuable resources such as time, space, and manpower on superficial

solutions.

According to statistics provided by Adrian Tamayo, overspeeding is responsible

for 18% of road accidents in the Philippines in 2009. This statistic provides an important

perspective for the citizens of the country to see just how irresponsible some, if not

most, Filipinos are at driving. However, the blame cannot be put solely on the citizens of

the Philippines. Being the ones responsible for the safety and security of their citizens,

the various branches of the government should be more adamant with the
implementation of the several traffic rules and regulations that they have set-up. For

instance, the Republic Act No. 10586, otherwise known as the “Anti-Drunk and Drugged

Driving Act of 2013,” is far from being implemented properly. From January 1 of 2018 to

June 30 the same year, a measly 100 Filipino motorists were arrested for violating the

republic act (Laurel, 2018). While some may question the importance of the previously

mentioned statistic, it is important to note that Filipinos are ranked as the third heaviest

drinkers in the world, behind only Russia and South Korea (Orosa, 2014). With this fact

in mind, it is difficult to believe that, in approximately 6 months, only a handful of Filipino

drivers have been caught in violation of Republic Act No. 10586. The lack of

apprehended drunk drivers may be the result of the inadequacy of the various

government agencies responsible for implementing the aforementioned republic act.

Since 2016, only 818 personnel from the Land Transportation Office (LTO),

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), and Philippine National Police

(PNP), have been deputized to handle the implementation of Anti-Drunk and Drugged

Driving Act of 2013. If the government of the Philippines focused on better

implementation of rules and regulations, then the country might suffer less from traffic. A

study conducted by Dara Lee Luca of the Harvard Kennedy School and the University

of Missouri showed a significant correlation between traffic fines and vehicular

accidents. In her study, the implementation of the Click It or Ticket (CIOT) Campaign in

Missouri, which tickets drivers who do not use seat belts, led to a decrease of 11% in

vehicular accidents in Missouri. This goes to show that, with proper implementation,

vehicular accidents can be prevented from happening, leading to a decrease in traffic as

road accidents are another cause of traffic in the country.

transportation increases due to rising populations, and commercial and industrial

business sectors being far away from living sectors. Rather than build new roads and

cause the induced demand for more, road infrastructure that has already been built can

be used instead. Albeit many roads have been built for public use, not all of them are

used to their full capacity due to the fact that new roads and highways are always

marketed to the public as faster and shorter routes to get to their destination, creating a

domino effect of congestion and induced demand, as well as lowering the efficiency of

road use. In this day and age, technology can be of great help if used well, and in this

situation, utilizing it for route mapping will make good use of technology. Until today,

intelligent transportation systems or ITS have been continuously used and is the subject

of many studies that have all, so far, been very successful. It is very prevalent in today’s

society as it is the means used by commercial businesses such as Grab, making use of

it in an app created by Google called Waze to direct drivers to their clients and their

clients’ destination. This can be used in other ways as well to help ease traffic

congestion in heavily congested areas.

There are many methods in using intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to

improve the flow of traffic, make efficient use of roads that have already been built, and

lessen traffic congestion. Perez-Murueta et al. (2019) point out that the utilization of pre-

existing roads is a much more viable method to solve traffic congestion. The application

of technologies such as intelligent transportation systems (ITS) can benefit not only

public and private transport but also the environment. This can be done with a traffic
surveillance and warning service system. It will enable vehicles to redirect their routes

when congestion is detected. Some situations wherein updates cannot be obtained will

also be accounted for by the system using a real-time prediction model. Another method

of using intelligent transportation systems (ITS) is by diffusing traffic congestion. Isa

(2015) notes that decreasing the effect of the congestion by dispersing traffic and avoid

a potential influx within the congested area is the main goal in diffusing traffic

congestion. In order to utilize dynamic route guidance for the entire route with the least

amount of computational time, it must focus on multiple vehicles to recede from the

congested area. Rather than re-routing to their preferences, detour plans should be

given to take the vehicles to nearby areas that are less congested and should account

for every possible direction when creating the routes. These methods of redirecting

routes and creating detour plans with the use of intelligent transportation systems (ITS)

will greatly improve traffic and alleviate congested areas. It will also enable the efficient

use of other roadways that have hardly been used in the past and have little to no

consequences.

Another solution to increase the efficiency of road use would be to limit the

number of vehicles. Vehicles were made to reduce travel time. Now, according to

Highfields in 2008, the excess of vehicles on the roads is the primary source of

prolonged travel periods. Grush and Niles (2018) defined the phenomenon of traffic

moving at speeds well below what is considered normal as traffic congestion. Traffic

congestion is caused by too many vehicles occupying the same stretches of roads,

claims Business Mirror Editorial. With cars swarming in the busiest of streets, the

functionality of even the widest of roads becomes almost counterproductive especially

bottleneck theory, where, similar to commercial water bottles, the water held by the

wide-body cannot all come out at the same time due to limited passage brought about

by the thin bottleneck. Business Mirror Editorial also claims that an increase in car sales

has always come with an increase in traffic. The construction of roads can never, in

theory, match the increase in the number of cars, therefore widening the gap of car-road

ratio and subsequently failing to bring about less car-road density. Given these claims,

the logical solution would be to limit the sale and use of private vehicles.

Limiting the use of vehicles is not a newly-formulated solution to the problem of

traffic congestion. This has, in fact, been implemented in different ways across the

globe, many of which have had a significant effect on the reduction of traffic congestion.

Madrid's ban on old cars, for example, reduced traffic congestion in its busiest streets

by an estimated 30% (Bendix, 2018). A Philippine reference for a ban on vehicles would

be the number coding implemented in the 1990s, known as UVVRP. The ban on cars

with specific plate numbers on given days was projected to reduce traffic by 20%

especially in the busiest of streets (Regidor, 2013). MMDA claimed to have achieved

such. Though in 1999, evaluation of this showed a low 4.3% decrease in vehicular

density compared to MMDA's previous 20% claim. There was a decrease nonetheless.

The UVVRP failed to take into account the methods that people would come up with to

cope with the car-reduction effort, for example, the ownership of two private vehicles

with different plate numbers. Number coding, though not as effective as before due to

some people with ownership of more than one vehicle, works in decreasing a load of

traffic in the streets of manila. One recently passed bill that would directly affect the
traffic in the Philippines is the TRAIN law. This law is an example of a way to limit the

purchase of vehicles. TRAIN law added excise to vehicles and gasoline ever since it

was implemented, which in turn reduced the sales of cars in 2018 by a significant

amount (Cahiles-Magkilat, 2019). With the perceived reduction in the purchase of

vehicles in the near future, clearer streets are to be expected within the next 3-8 years.

Dealing with the transport sector, according to the country's development plan,

Ambisyon 2040, one of the factors that led to the sudden increase of road congestion in

the Philippines was the inadequacy and subpar quality of the country's public

transportation (Siy, 2018b); poor quality services, inconvenient travel and lack of

access. Upon solving the traffic crisis (road congestion) experienced in the country,

another possible solution would be improving the public transportation. In conformity

with previous studies, Haggiag(2018)stated that improving public transportation remains

one of the adequate alternatives that a city can utilize upon countering road congestion,

public transportation, like in any country, plays an essential role in creating a

sustainable urban community. Moreover, effective transport networks that make use of

public transit provide fundamental benefits that work hand in hand with the needs of the

community (Bazilinskyy, Beretta, and Merino-Martinez, 2018). Furthermore, in line with

the article about transport investment, Walker (2016) stated that there are these three

key benefits that are being signified upon improving of public transportation. These key

benefits classified into three components, road mobility, resource management, and

economic activity.

Improving public transportation is essential to efficient road mobility. Public

transportation can be defined as a collective transportation that provides accessible

in much less space, public transportation exemplifies both mobility and land-use

efficiency: shows an essential way of maximizing the use at the least cost of space.

Other than that, in support of the limiting of car sales and usage, efficient transport

networks that make use of public transit were proven to be the key to reducing car

dependency (The International Association of Public Transport, 2016, par. 2). The more

efficient and convenient public transportation is, the fewer people will prefer the use of

cars, thus improving road mobility.

Subsequent to road mobility is resource efficiency. Aside from land use

efficiency, improving public transportation also incorporates resource efficiency: time,

cost efficiency, and (American Public Transportation Association, 2019). Efficient public

transportation can save a significant amount of time. Using public transportation allows

you to free up your time while traveling, and thus allowing you to do other activities such

as reading, studying or even sleeping. Likewise, using public transportation is also cost-

efficient. Unlike private-cars, the costs for the use of public transportation (fares) are

made attainable for public use.

Last, improving public transportation increases economic activity. Public

transportation also improves the community economically. It enables people who are

not capable of working: senior citizens, people with disabilities, youth, and unemployed

to participate in economic activity by utilizing the services offered by public transport

facilities. Consequently, providing mobility would not be simply social service, but also

an opportunity for everyone, regardless of their capability to take part in contributing to

the economic growth of the community.

transportation may seem almost impossible. Nevertheless, there are these measures

that are applicable to the countries capability: first is the revision of the boundary policy

for ensuring the quality and safety in public transportation. The boundary system is a

policy where the driver pays the jeepney owner or a bus company (operator) fixed

amount of money (boundary) for driving a passenger vehicle. The boundary system was

the one responsible for the competition among bus and jeepney drivers (Castelo, 2019).

Causing traffic rules violation and road accidents, this policy should be abolished and in

return be replaced with a fixed salary policy among the driver and operators. Next would

be the implementation of new transport modes. In the year 2017, there was this Build

Build Build program made by the Duterte administration that seeks to increase the

infrastructure spending of the Philippines. Funded by the portion of the country's GDP,

part of the key infrastructure of the program intends to build a high capacity railway

system that aims to ease the transport crisis experiences in the country(Mawis, 2018).

Aside from the new railway systems, there should also be a proper implementation of

alternative mobility. This includes the proper management of pedestrians as well as the

promotion of non-motorized or eco-sustainable means of transportation (Pappalardo,

Cafiso and Stamatiadis, 2019). Prior to promoting the use of eco-sustainable mode of

transportation, there should be a proper planning of pedestrians that are made

accessible to alternative mobility. In most cases in the Philippines, side-walks that are

supposed to be used by the people (walking) are now used as an alternative lane for

overtaking vehicles thus proper rules and regulations must also be implemented

alongside. Last but foremost is the government intervention upon the empowerment of
transport reforms. Implementing new programs must not only take account of the new

infrastructures in the country rather it should also give notice to those existing sectors

that are in need of improvement. Alongside, government assistance in very crucial in

implementing programs and executing projects (Ntulo and Otike, 2017); given that

improving the public transportation would involve a large-scale implementation, it is the

job of the government to take the lead.

The way things are at present, the expansions of roads would prove to be more

harmful than helpful. Therefore, using as much resources as the government currently

is for road expansions simply isn't efficient in many ways. There are many other known

tested-and-proven solutions that, taking into account the situation in the Philippines, are

better ways of dealing with the traffic congestion problem. Re-evaluation of the

expansions of roads as a solution to traffic is highly suggested, and so is the cost-

benefit analysis of alternative solutions to traffic congestion.

American Public Transportation Association (2019). Public Transportation Benefits -

American Public Transportation Association. [online] American Public

Transportation Association. Available at: https://www.apta.com/news-

publications/public-transportation-benefits/.

Bazilinskyy, P., Beretta, C. and Merino-Martinez, R. (2018). Towards a sustainable

transport system - Anglejournal.com. [online] Anglejournal. Available at:

https://anglejournal.com/article/2018-09-directions-towards-a-sustainable-

transportation-system/.

Bendix, A. (2018, December 6). Madrid's ban on cars cut traffic on its busiest street by a

third - and other cities are cracking down. Retrieved from

https://www.businessinsider.com/madrid-ban-cars-traffic-pollution-2018-12

Business Mirror Editorial. (2016, September 8). Problem: Too many cars. Retrieved

from https://businessmirror.com.ph/2016/09/08/problem-too-many-cars/

Cahiles-Magkilat, B. (2019, January 14). TRAIN law caused 16% drop in auto sales in

2018. Retrieved from https://business.mb.com.ph/2019/01/14/train-law-caused-

16-drop-in-auto-sales-in-2018/

Castelo, P. (2019). [online] Congress.gov.ph. Available at:

http://www.congress.gov.ph/legisdocs/basic_18/HB02193.pdf.
Grush, & Niles. (2018). Traffic Congestion. Retrieved from

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/traffic-congestion

Haggiag, A. (2018). Why We Need Public Transportation, Not More Self-Driving Cars.

[online] International Business Times. Available at: https://www.ibtimes.com/why-

we-need-public-transportation-not-more-self-driving-cars-2652999.

Isa, N. (2015). Implementation of Dynamic Traffic Routing for Traffic Congestion: A

Review. Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286439442_Implementation_of_Dynam

ic_Traffic_Routing_for_Traffic_Congestion_A_Review?fbclid=IwAR1kEjbeWaHn

CIKbteu1Q-GTkIzCj_zq9G7ytAnrdFUn1fmRmnJO555jPmk

Laurel, D. (2018, October 3). 2018 PH drunk-driving figures will leave you scratching

your head. Retrieved from https://www.topgear.com.ph/news/motoring-

news/2018-ph-drunk-driving-figures-will-leave-you-scratching-your-head-a962-

20181004.

Mawis, S. (2018). Understanding the ‘Build, Build, Build’ program. Retrieved from

https://business.inquirer.net/254682/understanding-build-build-build-program

Ntulo, G. and Otike, J. (2017). E – GOVERNMENT: ITS ROLE, IMPORTANCE AND

CHALLENGES. [online] researchgate. Available at:

https://www.researchgate.net/file.PostFileLoader.html?id=564b965d6225ffe6e98

b4595&assetKey=AS:296884838125570@1447794269180.
Pappalardo, G., Cafiso, S. and Stamatiadis, N. (2019). Use Of Technology To Improve

Bicycle Mobility In Smart Cities. [online] researchgate. Available at:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318226967_Use_Of_Technology_To_I

mprove_Bicycle_Mobility_In_Smart_Cities.

Perez-Murueta, P., Cardenas, C., Gómez-Espinosa, A. & Gonzalez-Mendoza, M. Jr.,

(2019). Deep Learning System for Vehicular Re-Routing and Congestion

Avoidance. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/13/2717

Regidor. (2013). Traffic Congestion in Metro Manila: Is the Uvvrp Still Effective?

Philippine Engineering Journal, 34(1), 66-75. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/27651463/Traffic_Congestion_in_Metro_Manila_Is_th

e_Uvvrp_Still_Effective

Rodrigue, J. (2018). Urban Mobility. [online] The Geography of Transport Systems.

Available at: https://transportgeography.org/?page_id=4617.

Siy, R. (2018b). Mobility for people, not cars - The Manila Times. Retrieved from

https://www.manilatimes.net/2018/03/31/business/columnists-business/mobility-

for-people-not-cars/389505/389505/

Tamayo, A. (2009, July 25). Occurrence of Traffic Accidents in the Philippines: An

Application of Poisson Regression Analysis. Retrieved from

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1438478.
The International Association of Public Transport (2016). Public transport: at the heart of

the new mobility world. [online] UITP. Available at:

https://www.uitp.org/publication/integrated-mobility-solution.

Vera, B. O. de. (2018, February 28). Infrastructure spending up 15.4% in 2017.

Retrieved from https://business.inquirer.net/246688/infrastructure-spending-15-4-

2017.

Walker, J. (2016). Can public transport investment really fix traffic congestion? |

CityMetric. [online] Citymetric.com. Available at:

https://www.citymetric.com/transport/can-public-transport-investment-really-fix-

traffic-congestion-1870.