RATIONALE

Philippines is a developing country and if we look back 20 to 40 years ago our country is more focused
on pure survival which means that we didn’t have much time to spare for things which aren’t as urgent
as putting food on the table. We simply can’t afford to spend too much resources on things like traffic
studies let alone anticipate future problems in highway, traffic, and transportation sector. Also, the
population in the past was quite minimal (1980 – 41.7 Million, 1990 – 61.95 Million) and only a small
fraction of the population was able to afford cars so as far as traffic and highway management is
concerned, there was little to no problem at all. Fast forward to today and our population is already at
104 Million and it shows no sign of decline. Although still considered a 3rd world country, we have seen
the rise of industrialization in our country which gave birth to more infrastructures being built. From an
agricultural nation to an industrial nation real quick and suddenly almost all people now can afford to
buy cars whilst the highway and transportation facilities remains the same. Right now, we are facing
traffic and transportation problems, probably the worst we have ever since.

According to an initial study conducted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Metro Cebu is
losing 1.1 billion php in economic losses a day. This alone shows how big the impact of traffic congestion
is on Cebu’s economy. Transportation and economy are very much connected and as a nation before we
can achieve better economy, we need to tackle the traffic problems of our country first. There is no
doubt that the traffic conditions of Cebu City are getting worse every year and before we can even come
up with an effective solution for it, further studies need to be done so that we may gain better insight on
the problem and identify the crucial factors that leads to traffic congestions.

While traffic volume studies are not uncommon in 1st and 2nd world countries, in the 3rd world countries
it is scarce and only recently have we discovered its significance. This study aims to contribute to the
literature and hope that it will pave way for more studies to come about Philippine traffic and
transportation. Although this study is limited to a portion of a road in Mango Avenue, the importance of
this study cannot be underestimated since this is one of the busiest road in Cebu City because it leads to
the downtown area. Few hundred meters from our point of study is Fuente Osmeña Circle which is
considered the heart of Cebu City and is the center for big events such as the yearly Sinulog Festival. If
we were to alleviate the worsening traffic conditions of Cebu City, the area around Fuente Osmeña
Circle would be crucial spots to consider. This leads to the ultimate aim of this study which is to improve
the traffic flow of the major roads in Cebu City.

References:

https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/980203/cebu-losing-p1-1-b-daily-to-traffic-
jams?utm_expid=.XqNwTug2W6nwDVUSgFJXed.1