The completion of four key infrastructure projects in Metro Manila will remove about 300,000 vehicles from Edsa, according to the Public Works Department.
“We need to take out 250,000 to 300,00 cars from Edsa daily in order to revert it back to an acceptable level of traffic,” Public Works Secretary Mark Villar told the participants of the Pre-Sona Economic and Infrastructure Forum at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
About 380,000 vehicles use Edsa, the biggest thoroughfare in Metro Manila, daily.
“The Skyway, once it’s completed, will reduce the traffic count by 100,000. When we finish the Connector Road, that is likely to reduce at least 50,000. When we finish C6, we will reduce another minimum of 50,000. When we build the Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge, that will reduce another 50,000,” Villar said.
The Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 Project is an 18.68-km elevated expressway from Buendia, Makati City to the North Luzon Expressway in Balintawak, Quezon City.
The NLEx-SLEx Connector Road is an 8-km elevated expressway, extending the NLEx southward from the end of Segment 10 in C-3 Road, Caloocan to PUP Sta. Mesa, and connecting it to the Skyway Stage 3.
Meanwhile, the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (C6) Project is a proposed 32.6-km toll road that will run from Skyway/FTI in Taguig City to Batasan Complex in Quezon City.
“When all these are finished, we would be able to bring back Edsa to its former state which is acceptable traffic. Rest assured this dream of Edsa is not a dream. It’s come from a point of inevitability. We will decongest Edsa,” he said.
Villar also assured Filipino motorists about major improvements in the traffic situation in Metro Manila later this year.
“We’ll continue next year up to the point that we finish the project. You can expect definite by the end of President Duterte’s term, there would be an improvement in traffic especially in Metro Manila,” he said.
A study by Japan International Cooperation Agency updated the daily cost of traffic in Metro Manila at P3.5 billion in 2017, higher than the estimated P2.4 billion based on the previous transport roadmap.
Jica said with the estimated 12.8 million population of Metro Manila as of 2015, the cost would amount to P273 for each resident a day, up from P187.5 for each resident in the previous roadmap.
It said that without intervention, the daily cost of traffic would increase to P5.4 billion in the coming years.
Jica said Metro Manila’s traffic situation was getting worse as traffic demand reached 13.4 million trips a day.