DPWH: Edsa traffic to be reduced 20-30% by second half of 2020

The “parking lot” that is Edsa during rush hour. (File photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — Commuters and motorists may expect “improvements” in the heavily-congested Edsa within the year as several infrastructure projects in Metro Manila are expected to be completed within the first six months of 2020, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said Wednesday.

In a press briefing in Malacañang, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said traffic congestion in Edsa will be relieved by 20 to 30 percent by the second half of 2020 with the completion of some projects under the Edsa Decongestion Program.

Aimed at relieving the 23-km long highway, which is the course taken by over 400,000 vehicles daily, the Decongestion Program, Villar explained, is composed of 23 projects—13 roads/highways and 10 bridges—amounting to P384 billion and is currently underway.

The government is confident that President Rodrigo Duterte’s promise of decongesting the 23-km long highway will be delivered before the end of his term.

“By the second half of this year, we will relieve Edsa traffic by 20 to 30 percent,” Villar said. “In subsequent years, we will see continued improvement.”

Among the projects set to be finished under the initiative is the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, which is expected to cut the two-hour travel time from Buendia, Makati City to Balintawak, Quezon City to just 15 to 20 minutes. It is set to be opened by April or May this year, Villar said, adding that it is expected to have 100,000 daily vehicular traffic.

Also included in the government’s Edsa Decongestion Program were the NLEx-SLEx connector road, widening of Radial Road 10; Naia Expressway Phase 2, C-5 Southlink Expressway; Mindanao Avenue Extension; the NLEx Harbor Link Segment 8.2 (Mindanao Avenue to Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City); Samar Street project; Southeast Metro Manila Expressway, C-6 Phase 2; the Fort Bonifacio-Nichols Highway; and the Laguna Lake Highway.

President Duterte has said that he has fulfilled most of his campaign promises, except to ease Edsa traffic.

However, he has also promised to improve Metro Manila’s traffic at a campaign rally in March 2019 which he later reiterated in June. He said travel time between Cubao, Quezon City and Makati could be a “smooth-sailing” five minutes.