The Quezon City government appealed to the authorities to reopen the EDSA-Munoz Interchange and the EDSA-West Avenue-North Avenue Interchange.

In a letter sent to the Department of Transportation (DOTr), Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Mayor Joy Belmonte requested to open the two intersections to lessen the worsening traffic in those areas.

“We made the request in response to the numerous complaints we received from motorists. While we fully support the national government’s transportation initiatives, particularly the EDSA Bus Carousel project, we have to do a balancing act so that we won’t compromise the welfare of those using EDSA,” the mayor explained.

The city government also suggested to reopen some of the U-turn slots closed by the national government to give way to the EDSA Bus Carousel project.

After monitoring the Balintawak area, the city government determined that the bottleneck caused by the reduction of lanes from three to two, per direction, at the EDSA Balintawak Cloverleaf to give way to the exclusive EDSA Bus Carousel lane has resulted to heavy traffic at times reaching EDSA corner North Avenue.

“We expect traffic to improve in those areas once our request is granted, especially with the Christmas rush and the easing of our GCQ guidelines. The city government is ready to work with authorities to find ways in improving the flow of traffic in intersections, U-turn slots and bus loading bays within the city,” Belmonte said.

Meanwhile, the city government deployed additional traffic enforcers in affected areas and coordinated with MMDA to open closed access roads in order for vehicles coming from Quirino Highway to exit at NLEX/Camachile and divert vehicles exiting along EDSA towards Monumento. The measures reduced the congestion along the EDSA-Caloocan area. It will also address the long queue of northbound vehicles in EDSA-Balintawak.

Mayor Belmonte also assured that the Department of Public Order and Safety and other agencies of the local government will continue to explore solutions to traffic bottlenecks along the major roads within the city.

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