The junction of the Bacolod – Negros Occidental Economic Highway and the Bacolod Silay Airport Access Road (BSAAR) has always struck me as a strange decision, as whoever designed ended up creating a new major intersection just a few hundred meters from an existing one, which creates road safety and efficiency issues for the latter.
Looking at the Google map of the area, there didn’t seem to be any reason for the Economic Highway to just go straight ahead a few hundred meters and linking up with the road to Concepcion (Ramon Magsaysay Street), which already has an existing intersection with the BSAAR. But that is what the people who designed the road did, and now there is an additional intersection to watch out for along that road, a major one where loaded cane trucks can either pop out from, or stop to turn left into, only to have another major intersection nearby.
Is there any rhyme or reason for that highway design feature? The junction or intersection between a supposedly critical airport access road and a so-called economic highway looks like it should’ve been given a bit more thought, so how was the decision to add an intersection so close to an existing one made? Did the Department of Public Works and Highways have a hand in this?
When the BSAAR was first opened to the public some time ago, one of my reactions was to wonder why a “highway” had so many intersections with traffic lights when its designers could’ve spent a bit more on proper exits that would allow a smoother and safer flow of traffic. Maybe I was just wishing we had something like the expressways of NCR and Luzon. As time went by, I understood why they called it a ‘road’ instead of a highway, and if people who drive on it treat it as such, there would be no problems with expectations of road safety and efficient travel.
Now that the new economic highway is also done and has been linked up with BSAAR, it is becoming more obvious that in this island, it doesn’t matter how many lanes it is because a road is a road and the highway is also a road. There are no highways or expressways here so expect weird intersections to be all over. Because of that, drivers cannot expect to drive in peace as we have to deal with all the hazards that come with provincial roads, where there are not only weird intersections, but also parked trucks, sidewalk markets, and there are no lane designations for fast or slow vehicles, trucks or motorcycles. Driving will always need to be on high alert because our ‘highway’ designers probably just want to lay as much concrete as possible and leave the driving to us.
If you come to think of it, my favorite highway addition is how someone was allowed to create an intersection at the apex of a curve at Bacolod’s circumferential road, near the Rockwell/Valley of Peace area. And because nobody did anything about a dirt road that intersects at the apex of a high speed/blind curve, that junction will soon become official and the only thing our local officials will do about it is to put up a sign warning that it is an “accident prone” area. The thing about it is that it wouldn’t have been an accident prone area if they only did their jobs properly in the first place.
Just a few hundred meters north of that dangerous DIY intersection is a legit intersection with Buri Road where supposedly smart traffic lights that probably cost the city a few million pesos were installed, but is now on perpetual yellow blinking mode because, apparently, it turned out to be a bad idea. Its twin traffic light, which is also supposedly smart, was installed at the North Capitol road and is also quite dubious as one side of the intersection is along a mall’s parking area. Has anyone ever seen a harebrained traffic scheme? Unfortunately for smart traffic lights, a dumb installation equals no net gain, with a net loss even likely.
The point is that given the inherent wideness of our roads and the road building spree that the DPWH and local governments seem to be constantly engaged in, one would expect that we would have a road network quality improvement by now, especially if brain matter is involved, and what we get is not just a concrete pouring bonanza. But it seems like we are stuck with country roads, and it will still take some time before we get proper highways or expressways, and a transportation system that is smart, modern, and efficient.*
