Key road project opening soon

BUILDERS Public Works Secretary Mark Villar (left) and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade inspect a major road project, the NLEx Harbor Link Segment 10. —EDWIN BACASMAS

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar on Tuesday said his department would open a portion of a road project that he said would significantly ease vehicular traffic in Metro Manila, describing it as a “major blow” on the metropolis’ infamous road congestion.

The opening of a portion of North Luzon Expressway’s (NLEx) Harbor Link Segment 10 would be done in time for President Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address in July, Villar said.

Speedy work

Villar, however, said Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) officials were still discussing which portion of the 5.58-kilometer elevated road connecting McArthur Highway and C3 would be opened to motorists.

He said the DPWH is speeding up work on the project to complete it by the third quarter of the year.

The project’s completion was hastened after the DPWH resolved 90 percent of road right-of-way issues and finished 75 percent of all civil works, Villar said.

Once completed, the P9-billion Segment 10 was expected to carry at most 50,000 cars daily and reduce the travel time from Valenzuela City to C-3 from an hour to just 5 minutes.

Its spur line to R10 was also expected to be completed by yearend, Villar said.

“This will have a big effect on our traffic [situation],” he said.

He said the project would “significantly improve” movement of cargo from Manila ports “by providing a direct connection” between two major roads—R10 and NLEx.

Bypassing bottlenecks

It would also “decongest Metro Manila roads by providing direct access to NLEx” for vehicles that would not need to pass through Edsa or the Balintawak part of NLEx, Villar said.

Villar added that the project, which started construction during the Aquino administration in May 2014, was “our first major blow on traffic in Metro Manila.”

Apart from Segment 10, the DPWH will also work on the construction next year of the four-lane Segment 8.2.

This will take an eastward route from Segment 8.1 along Republic Avenue, before turning to Luzon Avenue and ending on Commonwealth Avenue.