THAT monstrous traffic jam along the national road in Binmaley last Friday afternoon courtesy of construction crews of a contractor laying asphalt on the road practically caught everyone unawares – drivers, passengers, pedestrians, policemen.

It did not help the image of our authorities any that all throughout the nearly two-hour standstill of vehicular flow in that area, a billboard announcing the project as being under the road-building program of the administration, and with names of top officials emblazoned on it, stood by the roadside as though greeting the exasperated commuters who had no choice but to go down their buses and jeepneys and walk the rest of the way t the Dagupan boundary, most of them cursing under their breath.

If the contractor of the DPWH ever had any grey matter left in his head, it would have been easy to anticipate how occupying twi-thirds of the already narrow road it by filling it with men and machines working like they had their own sweet time – leaving only a one-lane passage for vehicles coming from both directions –would precisely create such a bedlam. And doing it at daytime in a well-travelled roadline, made it even worse.

We can understand that the kind of asphalt being used on such road projects these days has to be poured onto the pavement without delay, or it loses much of its sticking quality, or however the engineers term it.

But whoever decreed they should do the job on busy hours of the day and not just wait for evening to settle when vehicles are moving less escapes our grasp. We can only surmise, as did most of the inconvenienced lot of the commuters, that the contractor was either in a hurry to get paid or that he was so running behind schedule he just decided his personal benefit was worth much more than any passengers and drivers’ collective discomfort.

And yet, how is it that other contractors had the good sense and practical thought of doing their asphalt overlaying at night, and speedily, in the national roads of Dagupan City, particularly along Mayom bo-Caranglaan road the past weeks while this one in Binmaley showed utter contempt for the public’s comfort, all curses against him notwithstanding?

Perhaps the DPWH should get out of its seeming mindset about leaving a wining contractor to his own devices – so long as he gets the job done. Sure, they get the job done, but at great expense in wasted man-hours and lost business opportunities for hundreds of suddenly trapped commuters.