No Holy Week break from Edsa traffic

EXPECT heavy traffic on Edsa during the four-day Holy Week break, not because of vehicular volume but due to the repair of certain areas on the southbound and northbound lanes.

In the agency’s Sunday radio program, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Emerson Carlos said that the repair work would start at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, March 23 and end at 5 a.m. on Monday, March 28.

According to Carlos, the affected areas are the stretch of Connecticut, San Juan City up to Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City on the southbound lane; and Madison Street in Mandaluyong City until Ortigas Avenue, Quezon City on the northbound side.

The repairs would be extensive as it would cover several lanes on both sides. The MMDA assured motorists, however, that the road work would be done one lane at a time and at irregular intervals so that Edsa would remain passable.

Also set to undergo repairs are portions of two streets in Quezon City—C.P. Garcia after Jacinto Street and Quirino Highway in front of Asia United Bank Lagro in Novaliches.

One-day curing period

Carlos said that the road work on Edsa was expected to be finished by noon on Easter Sunday. “The DPWH (Department of Public Works and Highways)  gave us the assurance that [it]  will use concrete which requires [a] one-day curing [period],” he added, noting that the previous curing period was three days.

Carlos said that the MMDA was allowing the conducting of road repairs during Holy Week as most streets were expected to be empty with a huge number of Metro Manila residents headed for the provinces for the four-day break.

“This will also [reduce] repairs and reblocking in the coming months, especially during weekends,” he added.

The MMDA also announced that the Pasig River ferry system would not operate from Maundy Thursday to Easter Sunday.

“We will, however, have the Stations of the Cross using the Pasig ferry on Monday, March 21, from 9 a.m. starting at the Guadalupe Station until Plaza Mexico which is near the Manila Cathedral,” Carlos announced.

He encouraged the public to participate in the activity which would stop at churches near ferry stations.

The MMDA earlier announced that 2,363 personnel would be deployed for Holy Week to man traffic flow on busy roads in Metro Manila starting on March 23.

MMDA Traffic Discipline Office Head Cris Saruca said that most of these men would be assigned near bus terminals, churches, ports and airport terminals.

He added that the MMDA expected traffic to be less heavy in Metro Manila next week since a lot of residents were expected to leave for the provinces.

“But roads going to the north and south will be congested,” he said, referring to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEx).

Expected to be affected as well were roads leading to SLEx such as Magallanes, Quirino Avenue and Osmeña Avenue; and Balintawak, A. Bonifacio, Mindanao Avenue and Visayas Avenue headed for NLEx.

The MMDA also said that provincial buses would be exempted from the number coding scheme on March 23 to accommodate passengers bound for the provinces.