Espaa Boulevard is a multilane highway, which connects part of Quezon City and Manila City.

The traffic on Espaa Boulevard has always been heavy in any time of the day especially, during the
morning commuters experience this kind of situation. The vehicle volume is expected to be very high
due to high demand of public transport by the students and employees who needs to go to school or to
the office. The worst traffic that ever happens to Espaa Boulevard is during and after heavy rain since
Espaa Boulevard is easily flooded, in which the commuters take the alternative route in order to
prevent being trapped in the traffic.

According to an article entitled Traffic Problems in the Philippines and Proposed Solutions (Flat Planet
September 2, 2014), Espaa Boulevard is one of the busiest roads in Metro Manila. It is the main route
of Sampaloc District, Manila and is a component of one of the radial roads of Metro Manila. Espaa
Boulevard is about two kilometers long and is divided into 8 lane arterial road. According to the
Philippine Statistical Authority National Statistics Office, there are around 241 barangays near the road
and has a population of around 341,461 which may be one factor contributing to congestion around the
area. There are 6 major signalized intersections located in Espaa Boulevard: Blumentritt Road, Maceda
St., Vicente Cruz St., Dela Fuente St., Lacson Avenue, and lastly, P. Noval St.

Note: The population consists only the people who live within the Manila, not including those who just
go to the city to study, work or recreate and then go home.

The causes of traffic delay along Espaa Boulevard are traffic lights at signalized intersections, traffic
jams, loading/unloading of passengers and interruption of traffic flow due to Philippines National
Railways (PNR). Aside from these reasons, the volume of public vehicles is very high due to high demand
of public transportation of commuters especially students going to Manila. As a result, Espaa Boulevard
became more congested and the travel time took longer than the usual.

Causes of traffic:

- Traffic Lights

The researchers conducted an interview from the driver of FX, bus and jeepney. Lacson Avenue is the
most congested intersection because of the signal timing of traffic lights which only takes 39 seconds for
the GO signal while 98 seconds for the STOP signal from Morayta to Rotunda.

- Loading/unloading

Loading/unloading zones are mostly located after crossing an intersection. There are instances when
vehicles cannot cross intersections even though the lights are green because public vehicles that
load/unload passengers block the highway. This produces bottlenecks which reduces the traffic flow.
Due to vehicle build-up on signalized intersections, the cause of queue is from the controlled delay,
which was computed from Highway Capacity Manual procedure in determining average delay per
vehicle. This controlled delay is contributed by delay caused by traffic signals and delay due public
vehicles.
Behaviors of public transportation were also observed by riding the public vehicle and recording the
time when it passes or cover the road segment. It was observed that public transport with fewer
passengers tend to wait longer on loading/unloading zones, which contributes more to the travel time
of the vehicle itself and delaying vehicles behind. On the other hand, public vehicles with more
passengers stop more often to discharge passenger and still contribute to the delay of other vehicles.

- Traffic jams

Due to heavy traffic, some vehicles crossing Espaa Boulevard do not have enough time to get on the
other side, leaving the vehicle stuck in the middle of the traffic and blocks one lane of the highway. This
causes another case of bottlenecks.

- PNR

Other observed cause of vehicle delay is the interference of Philippines National Railway (PNR). The
train jams the traffic movement preventing passage of northbound and southbound vehicles.

- High demand

The traffic on Espaa Boulevard has always been heavy in any time of the day especially, during the
morning commuters experience this kind of situation. The vehicle volume is expected to be very high
due to high demand of public transport by the students and employees who needs to go to school or to
the office.

Students usually comprise the population of the city of Manila on a daily basis. It is due to the presence
of various colleges, universities around the University Belt in Manila. Some students, usually from
distant provinces, stay in dormitories and condominiums for the duration of their college years, but
most of them live within the city, nearby cities and provinces. This would determine the need for
transportation. Some students use their own cars to go to school, but mostly rely on public
transportation. Due to this, the demand for public transportation is expected to be high, and so is the
number of public vehicles.

Furthermore, in Manila lies the University Belt, the cluster of Universities, Colleges, and other
Educational Institutions as well as cluster of offices, such as government office and Marine agencies
which attract numerous people coming from nearby provinces and provinces from the other islands of
the country. Some just visit the city to work, study, have fun, and then go home by the end of the day,
but most stay in their temporary home for months resulting in the increase in concentration of the
population in this small city. The population consists of employers, employees, unemployed, and mostly
students, coming from different places to work, to find a job and to learn and finish schooling.

Each modes of transportation has an equivalent Passenger Car Equivalence Factor (PCEF) designated by
the Department of Public Works and Highways to estimate the passenger usage of a certain road.
Through these factors, the researchers determined the passenger volume of the trips generated in the
site location.

- Flooding

The worst traffic that ever happens to Espaa Boulevard is during and after heavy rain since Espaa
Boulevard is easily flooded, in which the commuters take the alternative route in order to prevent being
trapped in the traffic.

Long Term Solutions

- MRT4

A new mass-transit line is planned to cross Espaa, called MRT-4, also called by some as the Red
Line.The said MRT line will traverse the Boulevard until it reaches San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan. But
this has been opposed by the City Council of Manila and goes against the conditions set forth by Spain
for the donation of the land for Espana Boulevard.

- Metro Manila Skyway

The boulevard will also provide access to the northern extension of Metro Manila Skyway via Espaa
Exit. The said extension will traverse over PNR tracks until it reaches Grace Park, Caloocan City.

Skyway Stage 3 will extend the Skyway northwards and link the missing segment from Gil Puyat
(Buendia) to Mindanao Avenue and Balintawak. It will be connected to North Luzon Expressway. This
stage is currently under finalization. Currently, the government has reportedly accepted two proposals
one from Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corp. (MPTDC which is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific
Tollways Corp. (MPTC), that runs NLEX and SCTEX, to build the 13.24-kilometer road which mostly of its
right-of-way is via the Street of the C-2 Road & Juan Luna connecting Skyway from NLEX via Mindanao
Avenue. And the other is from Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation (CMMTC), which runs the
Skyway and STAR Tollway, to build their version from Skyway Buendia to NLEx Balintawak which will run
through several major thoroughfares along Metro Manila namely Quirino Avenue, Lacson Avenue,
Magsaysay Boulevard, G. Araneta/Sgt. Rivera Avenue, and A. Bonifacio Avenue.

- JICA
- P2P

The premium P2P bus service is a new public utility vehicle (PUV) sub-category created by the DOTC that
offers commuters another safe and reliable mode of transportation. It allows shorter travel time, as
buses depart on a fixed schedule and travel directly from the terminal to the drop-off point.

- BRT
some of you may ask what a BRT is. Ill just put it this way, BRT is like a mass rail transit on the road itself
with interconnected buses instead of railroad cars. As such, BRTs have a dedicated lane and dedicated
stops like the mass transit trains but are more affordable to put in place.