December 16, 2019 | 12:05 am [ bworldonline.com ]
SAN MIGUEL Corp. (SMC) has submitted a proposal to the Department of Transportation (DoTr) to build an elevated expressway along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), in order to address traffic congestion.
Ramon S. Ang, president and chief operating officer of SMC, is hoping to start construction on the proposed ten-lane, five-by-five expressway along EDSA by mid-2020, and complete it within a two-year period.
“Nagsubmit po tayo ng lahat ng requirement sa DoTr, kay Sec. (Arthur P.) Tugade. I hope makumbinse natin syang bilisan ‘yung kanilang processing. (We have submitted the requirements to the DoTr, Mr. Tugade. I hope we can convince him to speed up the processing),” he told reporters on Dec. 1.
“Kung magagawa natin yun, so we start building it let’s say middle of 2020, matatapos natin yan mga two years after. So kumbinsihin natin sya na bilisan yung assessment (If we can do that, we start building, let’s say mid-2020, we can finish it two years after. So we have to convince him to speed up the assessment),” he added.
Transportation Undersecretary for Planning Ruben S. Reinoso, Jr. has said the plan is to build a “Skyway” that will link the Manila-Cavite Expressway (CAVITEx) to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) in Balintawak, Quezon City.
It will be an elevated, steel toll road built higher than the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3), which runs along EDSA as well.
The expressway, according to Mr. Reinoso, will have dedicated lanes that will operate a bus rapid transit system. This is seen to help reduce traffic on EDSA, and ease congestion on the MRT-3.
The Metro Manila Development Authority said in July there are about 385,000 vehicles passing through EDSA every day at any given hour. This exceeds the highway’s designed capacity of only 240,000 to 250,000 vehicles a day.
Aside from the elevated EDSA, SMC is also currently building Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3: an 18.68-kilometer toll road from Buendia, Makati City to Balintawak, Quezon City, which is scheduled for completion by early 2020. — Arjay L. Balinbin
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