Elevated highway eyed over Edsa

MANILA, Philippines — The government is studying whether an elevated highway can be constructed above Edsa to alleviate the excruciating traffic situation below.

Public Works Secretary Rogelio Singson revealed the idea at the Senate finance committee’s hearing of his department’s P125-billion proposed budget for 2012.

“We’re completing a study on that and it looks like the elevated expressway on EDSA will be [built]. Bagong [New] EDSA,” Singson said. “We are finalizing our plans to do a new EDSA.”

A pair of elevated three-lane highways spanning the length of Edsa from Roxas Blvd in Pasay City to Balintawak at the boundary of Caloocan and Quezon Cities would cost P50 billion.

Entrance and exit ramps are planned in Makati, Greenhills in Mandaluyong City and in Quezon City.

“Edsa to us is a struggle, it is so congested. We can no longer absorb a widening of the road,” Singson told senators on Monday.

“We are doing a metro expressway for NCR [National Capital Region]. And this is either we put on top of EDSA a second level or we do a tunnel,” he said.

Construction would not be a breeze, especially since the Department of Public Works and Highways intends to finish the project before the end of President Aquino’s term in 2016.

And the catch: building it would actually result in more traffic along the metropolis’ busiest thoroughfare.

“It would be built by sections,” Singson told reporters who asked about how the DPWH would resolve the resulting traffic.

The alternative is to construct a smart tunnel under the length of Edsa that would double as a cistern for floodwater during the rainy season.

Senate finance chair Franklin Drilon said while the construction of a smart tunnel would not worsen the traffic upstairs, “Metro Manila is actually situated below sea level so there would also be problems if a tunnel is built.”

According to Singson, building an elevated highway seems more realistic at this point.

“We are starting technical evaluations whether to construct it above Edsa or choose a tunnel. At present, we have no more choice to give a new capacity for Edsa,” he said during the hearing.

Singson said each kilometer of the 22-kilometer proposed raised highway would cost P1 billion.

“This is just for two lanes going to one direction.  At 22 kilometers from end to end, with three lanes going one direction, the cost would be higher, about P22 to 25 billion.  For six lanes (three going east and three going west), the cost would double,” he told senators.

“We definitely need a new Edsa. Other countries have highways with three levels, and here we are still studying whether to construct a second level above the original,” he said in Filipino.

Senator Francis Escudero voiced his preference for the smart tunnel.

“Since flooding is also a Metro Manila problem, we can consider the tunnel that doubles as drainage. Would that not be hitting two birds with one stone,” he asked.