DPWH project to worsen Edsa traffic

IF YOU think traffic on Edsa is bad now, wait until the next few months.

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced the other day that work on a drainage improvement project on the northbound lane of Edsa could start next month, possibly after Feb. 25.

During the agency’s Sunday radio program, MMDA Traffic Engineering head Neomie Recio said that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) would be working on the flood control project on the stretch of Edsa between White Plains and Mega Q-Mart in Quezon City.

“Even [without] construction work or repairs being done in the area, heavy traffic has been [observed] from White Plains until Cubao and Kamias,” Recio noted, adding that the DPWH project was sure to affect the flow of vehicles in the area.

To help ease the expected congestion, Recio said the MMDA had asked the DPWH to present the entire scope of work for the drainage improvement and how it would be carried out.

She added that the DPWH was also requested to stay off Edsa as much as possible and confine the work and its workers to the sidewalks.

At the same time, the MMDA asked the DPWH to start the project during the summer period and shorten the work timetable to two months.

“I also suggested that they start in the area between White Plains and Gates 3 and 4 since the sidewalk in that area is much wider” and traffic flow would be less affected, Recio said.

According to her, improving the drainage system in the area was necessary to reduce the flooding problem along the affected stretch, particularly the area between Camp Crame and Santolan.

Recio warned motorists that the project could contribute to the traffic building on the northbound stretch of Edsa since there was another ongoing drainage improvement project from Santolan to Katipunan.

“The methodology of these projects should be properly done to ensure that these will not cause monstrous traffic in the area,” she said.

According to the MMDA, a third flood control project on the northbound lane of Edsa—from North Avenue to the Balintawak area—was nearly complete.

Edsa traffic technical working group (TWG) head and Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras earlier announced that traffic jams on the major thoroughfare may soon be eased as work on the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Elevated Expressway was about to be finished.

Almendras said that the project was expected to “lighten the load of Edsa from Magallanes in Makati City to Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City.”

The four-lane elevated expressway—spanning 7.15 kilometers from Sales Road in Pasay City to Macapagal Avenue in Parañaque City—was initially targeted to be completed in October last year in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit last November. Right now, it is expected to be completed in April.

As for the rest of Edsa from Magallanes in Makati City up to Quezon City, the government was counting on the Skyway Stage 3 project expected to be finished by the early part of 2018.

The Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 Project is a 14.82-kilometer elevated expressway from Gil Puyat Avenue to Balintawak targeted to reduce travel time from Makati to Quezon City from the usual two hours to around 15 to 20 minutes.