By MYLA IGLESIAS

The current horrendous EDSA traffic which spills over to all Metro Manila roads will cost an amazing P1 billion in lost gas, manhours, and frayed tempers before it will be resolved.

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) yesterday said that the traffic congestion will hopefully start to ease by June leaving Metro Manilans an exact one month to suffer the average two-hour delay in travel time.

Angelito Vergel De Dios MMDA director in traffic operations said that the build-up in EDSA (Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue) was due to the construction of an unloading and loading platforms in Guadalupe and Buendia which started last week.

De Dios said that there is an on going construction in C5, particularly in the U-Turn flyover near the intersection of Kalayaan and C5.

He explained that the loss of C5 as an alternate route added to the EDSA congestion.

A commuter said that from last week, travel time from Pasig using the C5 to Kalayaan averaged at three to four hours, from the usual one hour ride.

De Dios said that the platforms will be completed by June. Repair of the C5 bridge however, will take longer.

The Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers in the Philippines (FEJODAP) estimate that jeepney drivers stuck in two hours of traffic will lose four to five liters which will cost from P161 to P201 with diesel sold at P40.25 per liter.

Granting that drivers will lose that much, one million cars that pass EDSA daily losing a liter of gasoline with engines idling in traffic will mean P40 million loss minimum daily. Multiply that by 30 representing the month that commuters will have to bear the traffic will result in total losses of P1.2 billion.

The MMDA said that most used route in Manila is the Ortigas-Santolan road in which an average of 260,000 cars use daily. That is only a section of EDSA, not counting the intersections of Buendia, Ayala, Aurora, Quezon Ave, Shaw, Munoz where traffic are also heavy.

FEJODAP said that it will be very hard for people to conserve fuel with the EDSA type of traffic.

Turning on and off the car engine will only result in bigger gas consumption.

Car owners can save fuel by turning off airconditioning.

For jeepney drivers, FEJODAP said that during night traffic, they can turn off their headlights.

In the US, motorists are using a radical driving technique designed to eke out every last mile from a tank of fuel.

Known as ‘hypermiling,’ the methods can double gas mileage, even in gas-guzzling vehicles that would normally get less than 20 miles per gallon according to Reuters.

Promoted on a growing number of Web sites, hypermiling includes pumping up tires to the maximum rating on their sidewalls, which may be higher than levels recommended in car manuals; using engine oil of a low viscosity, and the controversial practice of drafting behind other vehicles on the highway to reduce aerodynamic drag — a practice begun a few years ago by truck drivers.

For Americans, gas prices are a "serious problem," ahead of jobs, and healthcare, according to a poll released on Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The "advanced" techniques of hypermiling are in addition to well-known approaches including keeping speed down, accelerating gently, avoiding excessive idling and removing cargo racks to also cut down on aerodynamic drag.