DPWH vows to ease Metro Manila traffic

The Department of Public Works and Highways  (DPWH) unveiled a comprehensive strategy to ease traffic flow and improve transportation efficiency in Metro Manila.

Secretary Manuel M. Bonoan discussed some of the infrastructure projects to alleviate bottlenecks and provide alternative routes to ease traffic congestion during the Bagong Pilipinas Town Hall Meeting on Traffic Concerns convened by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on April 10, 2024 in San Juan City and also attended by Cabinet Secretaries including Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Acting Chairman Romando S. Artes, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin C. Abalos Jr., Department of Transportation (DoTr) Secretary Jaime J. Bautista, and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan, and local officials in Metro Manila and other stakeholders.

Key highlights of the DPWH decongestion plan include expansion and upgrading of transportation infrastructure including the construction of new roads and bridges.

According to Secretary Bonoan, traffic decongestion program is one of the key strategic infrastructure programs of Department that is aligned with the 2023-2028 Philippine Development Plan and consistent with the President’s 8-point socioeconomic agenda to reduce transport and logistics cost. 

The program focuses on the improvement and expansion of the national road network by building more by-passes, diversion roads, expressways, flyovers, interchanges and underpasses.

Secretary Bonoan emphasized the need for collaborative efforts between government agencies, private sector stakeholders, and the community to implement the decongestion plan successfully.

The completion of the mainline of the 18-kilometer Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 has reduced travel time from Buendia to Balintawak from 2 hours to 15-20 minutes. The Tomas Claudio – Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Sta. Mesa Section is on-going and out of the target 28 ramps, 22 are completed, three (3) are on-going and the other three (3) ramps are under planning stage.

Another project that will decongest and bypass EDSA is the 7.7-kilometer NLEX-SLEX Connector Road. This elevated expressway mostly traversing along the PNR rail track from Caloocan to Plaza Dilao in Manila will reduce travel time from SLEX to NLEX from 2 hours to 20 minutes. The project is already 95% substantially completed and now has three (3) interchanges located in C3 Road/5th Avenue in Caloocan, and España and Magsaysay Boulevard in Manila.

Targeted to be fully completed this year, the NLEX-SLEX Connector Road Project will bring great comfort to many of our motorists once fully operational to its connection with Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

Another project is the 32-kilometer Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (C6 Expressway, Phase I) which will reduce travel time from Bicutan to Batasan from 2 hours to 30 minutes. Right-of-way acquisition is ongoing.

The C5 South Link Expressway will reduce travel time from R-1 Expressway to SLEX/C5 from 40 minutes to 10 minutes. The Merville to C5/SLEX and E. Rodriguez to Merville Sections are operational.

The Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project – Phase I involves the construction of a 51-kilometer road network along Laguna Lakeshore from Calamba to Bicutan will cater to the increasing traffic volume in the southern corridor of Metro Manila.

Detailed engineering design for the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project – Phase I is 97% complete. Loan for the construction of the project is underway with the Asian Development Bank (ADB)

The 44-kilometer Cavite-Laguna Expressway is expected to reduce travel time from CAVITEX in Kawit to SLEX Mamplasan in Laguna from 2 hours to 35 minutes.  The 17.4 kilometers from SLEX Mamplasan to Silang-Aguinaldo Interchange is already operational, while the remaining sections will be completed next year.

DPWH is also prioritizing the construction of new bridges crossing Pasig River and Manggahan Floodway. This will provide alternative linkages between major thoroughfares and increase the number of usable roadways that would decongest traffic in EDSA and other major roads in Metro Manila.

Three (3) bridges have been completed namely Binondo-Intramuros Bridge; BGC-Ortigas Center Link Road Project; and Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge.

The design and build contracts for the other three (3) bridges are on-going and civil works to start this year. Civil works for the North & South Harbor Bridge and Palanca-Villegas Bridge crossing Pasig River are targeted to start by the end of this year or early part of next year while construction of Eastbank-Westbank Bridge 2 crossing Manggahan Floodway is set to commence in September 2024.

One of the landmark projects included in the Inter-Island Linkage Bridge Program is the 32-kilometer Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge across Manila Bay, which is set to be the country’s longest bridge once constructed. It is the biggest and the single most expensive project of DPWH which aims to reduce the travel time between Bataan and Cavite from 5 hours to 45 minutes bypassing Metro Manila. The detailed engineering design of this 219 billion pesos mega bridge project in Luzon has an accomplishment of 97 percent, with final approval of design plans currently ongoing.

The transport road and bridge rehabilitation project along EDSA aims to mitigate the large economic losses due to traffic in Metro Manila.  The project is currently proposed for inclusion to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) technical cooperation project for large-scale road and bridge replacement and rehabilitation including the total rehabilitation of EDSA.

Improving the structural integrity and seismic resilience of existing bridges remains a top priority for the government. Among the key projects critical to attaining this objective is the rehabilitation and replacement of Guadalupe and Lambingan bridges, under the JICA-funded Metro Manila Priority Bridges Seismic Improvement Project, set to commence this year.  This will ensure the safety of about 365,000 motorists who traverse EDSA through the Guadalupe Bridge, and about 30,257 motorists that pass by Lambingan Bridge every day.

Secretary Bonoan assured that the DPWH will continue to develop and conduct further study on infrastructure projects that will alleviate traffic in Metro Manila in coordination with various stakeholders.

The agency will also continue assisting MMDA in road clearing and removal of obstructions as well as promote active transport by building more bikelanes and pedestrian infrastructure in coordination with the DoTr.

He emphasized the collaborative efforts between government agencies, private sector stakeholders, and the community to implement the decongestion plan successfully.