The Zamboanga City Traffic Operations Management (ZCTOM) under the City Administrator’s Office convened Wednesday morning as it tried to find solutions to the city’s worsening traffic problems.

Presided over by Assistant City Administrator for City Affairs Rodolfo Saavedra Jr. on behalf of City Administrator Atty. Wendell Sotto, the ZCTOM acted favorably on the requests for temporary closure of certain roads in the city to pave way for road project excavations.

Firstly, the ZCTOM approved the temporary closure of Murga St. (beside Villa Funeral Homes) as requested by the contractor that has been undertaking the DPWH’s drainage project on Veterans Avenue effective Monday for a period of six weeks.

Secondly, the ZCTOM also gave its imprimatur on the recommendation of DPWH-9 to temporarily close Gov. Camins Road, particularly the portion at Sta. Cruz-Bagsakan Market, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to pave the way for the launching of the girders of the flyover project thereat.

Saavedra said the DPWH had originally requested the closure time to start from 9 p.m. but Mayor John Dalipe wanted it moved to 10 p.m., taking into account the volume of vehicles plying the route at 9 p.m.

He also said the request for closure was made to take effect last December 22, 2023 but the ZCTOM had to hold it in abeyance due to the traffic rush brought about by the Christmas holidays then.

However, it was not known yet how long the closure would last as it was not specified in DPWH’s request. The ZCTOM will have to discuss the matter with DPWH yet as the agency did not have any representative at Wednesday’s meeting.

Likewise, the ZCTOM is set to issue a special “pick-and-go” parking scheme to a business establishment downtown for loading and unloading purposes only.

Taking all these measures into consideration, Saavedra said the ZCTOM will issue in the coming days the official traffic rerouting scheme on the affected roads, traffic advisory and the appropriate signage for compliance and guidance of all public and private conveyances.

This, as the ZCTOM believes that the public will have to brace for even heavier traffic in the affected routes even as it gave the assurance that proper coordination has been made with the barangays and agencies concerned to ease traffic, especially in chokepoint areas.-[Vic Larato]