Asean traffic challenge: Clark to Pasay in 90 mins

Shuttling world leaders from the Clark Freeport in Pampanga province to the summit venue in Pasay City in under two hours is a daunting task, but it’s one the traffic committee for the country’s hosting of this year’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meeting has prepared for over the last few months.

In fact, the traffic committee concluded early on Wednesday morning its sixth and final convoy dry run in preparation for the arrival, as early as Saturday, of the 21 world leaders attending the summit and its related meetings.

Now that the preparations have been completed, all that’s needed is the public’s cooperation to ensure that everything would click as planned, according to Emmanuel Miro, Asean traffic management commander.

“We are calling on the public to avoid the ceremonial routes for the duration of the Asean summit and to report to the authorities if they spot suspicious activities near these areas,” Miro said.

Normally, it takes motorists at least two-and-a-half hours to reach Pasay City from Clark’s Diosdado Macapagal International Airport—a distance of around 105 kilometers. But that’s on a good day for traffic.

Since all the roads where the heads of state would be passing through would be closed off to traffic, Miro said they expected convoys to be at the Philippine International Convention Center in just an hour and a half.

That means the convoys would be traversing the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and Edsa at speeds ranging from 80 to 120 kilometers per hour.

There are at least 11 major intersections on Edsa that will be affected when a convoy passes by.

Miro said motorists would be halted by traffic constables 50 meters from the intersection at least five minutes before a convoy arrives and another five minutes after it passes.

While the number-coding scheme would remain in effect during the three-day summit, Miro is urging motorists to avoid Edsa on those days.

As early as Saturday, Miro said they would close off to motorists Edsa’s two innermost lanes for the exclusive use of the Asean delegates.

He said the Metro Rail Transit-3 would remain in operation during the summit, though trains would be required to slow down when a convoy passes on Edsa.

A partial lockdown of the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex has already been implemented. The complex would be locked down completely on Sunday.

From 11 p.m. on Saturday, the SMX-Maax Block in Pasay would also be closed to all vehicular traffic.

Roxas Boulevard, from Padre Burgos Avenue to Gil Puyat Avenue, would be under total lockdown on Monday, the start of the summit.

Trucks and closed vans would be banned from Nov. 11 to 15 along the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and NLEx, from Clark to Balintawak, as well as on Edsa.