LEGAZPI CITY, April 22 (PNA) -- Legazpi City will soon have new traffic lights, courtesy of the Manila Metropolitan Development Authority (MMDA).
Mayor Noel E. Rosal, members of the Sangguniang Panlunsod headed by Vice Mayor Vittorio C. Roces and MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino led the ground-breaking ceremony for the installation of traffic lights at the Imelda C. Roces Avenue corner Benny S. Imperial Drive on Monday.
The project materialized after the MMDA approved the proposed Legazpi City Traffic Management Program submitted by the city administration earlier.
The Traffic Engineering Center of the MMDA also conducted a traffic management plan study on how to establish the traffic lights in the area.
After the flag-raising ceremony, Tolentino turned over the plan to Rosal and to the SP members to serve as their guide for the enactment of a traffic ordinance in Legazpi.
Tolentino disclosed that these traffic signal facilities are only part of an initial donation by the MMDA to the city as his office will install another traffic lights at the Rizal Avenue Street intersection near the Liberty Commercial Center (LCC) and the L. Los Banos Drive and F. Imperial Street intersection near Gaisano Mall and 101 Mall.
He said that this project is part of the MMDA's support to the city administration in order to address the congested traffic situation and also to improve the vehicular flow, particularly in the commercial areas at the downtown portion of this city.
The MMDA chief revealed that the AMEG Construction, based in this city, has started already the civil works of the project.
Then, he said, the personnel of the MMDA Traffic Engineering Center will start the installation of bulb-type traffic lights and other signal facilities that include four units of Type A Post, four units of Type B Post, one unit of stand pipe for local controller, three sets of 300 mm six aspect of signal lantern, one set of 300mm three aspect of signal lantern, three sets of 200mm six aspect of signal lantern, one set of 200mm three aspect of signal lantern, eight sets of pedestrian lantern and one unit of local controller.
The installation of traffic lights at the Imelda Roces Avenue corner Benny Imperial Drive is expected to be finished on or before the second week of May, Tolentino added.
Rosal described Legazpi as the regional center of government agencies where almost all the government offices are located,
He said the city is also the center of education in the entire Bicolandia with two high standard universities -- the Bicol University (BU) and Aquinas University -- and other local colleges operating in this city that have produced a high volume of students, most of them coming from neighboring provinces.
Legazpi is also the center of transportation in the region with an increasing number of vehicles plying inside the territorial areas of this city that resulted in the high volume traffic incidents, he added.
He revealed that this traffic light project is part of the modernization program of the traffic system in Legazpi, which is designed to improve and promote the safe and smooth flow of vehicular traffic on the road networks in order to hasten the movement of all daily transactions by the motorists and other commuters.
The city chief executive disclosed that this project would also minimize, if not totally prevent, vehicular accidents and also reduce the traveling time going to the points of destination of the motorists and commuters.
This traffic light project is another welcome addition to the many landmarks established by the city administration, Rosal said. (PNA) FFC/FGS/EPS/CBD/EBP