It is the … most dreaded construction job for our wary commuters in Metro Manila.
The Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) road rehabilitation is finally underway this year.
Motorists and commuters by next week and after the long holiday break will have redrawn their “battle” plans to meet the traffic challenges posed by the EDSA rebuild. It is the most-awaited and most dreaded construction job for our wary commuters in Metro Manila.
EDSA motorists and commuters will likely look at alternative routes like España Boulevard and Taft Avenue, or Roxas Boulevard, to navigate their way to the financial district of Makati and the southern parts of Metro Manila. They can try C-5, although this route may be a worse alternative.
Traffic congestion along EDSA, for sure, will worsen further during the rebuid stage. The average daily number of vehicles that ply EDSA is estimated at 385,000 against the road’s carrying capacity of 250,000.
The major highway spans seven cities of Metro Manila—Caloocan City, Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Pasig City, Makati and Pasay City. The rebuild is a nightmare for workers and students traversing the road.
Yet, the construction work is necessary for the safety of motorists and speedier flow of traffic.
Poor road maintenance can result in accidents and loss of lives in extreme cases. Smooth roads, on the other hand, offer better “skid resistance.”
Degraded roads also entail higher fuel consumption and damage suspension systems and wheel alignments—an added cost to the Filipino motorists.
The EDSA rehabilitation works actually began on December 24, with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) shortening the project timeline to eight months to minimize disruptions to motorists.
DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon took advantage of the two-week holiday break to carry out major road works. The rehabilitation is being implemented in two phases and it is set to be completed within eight months, or much shorter than the original two-year plan.
Under the revised schedule, the first four months of rehabilitation will cover the stretch from Roxas Boulevard in Pasay City to Orense Street in Makati City, while the remaining four months will focus on rehabilitating the rest of EDSA.
During this period, round-the-clock reblocking works and asphalt overlay of the EDSA busway lanes will be undertaken.
Dizon said the project would use new Japanese road technology, including stone mastic asphalt, which is expected to make repairs faster, more durable, and less disruptive.
The revised plan is also expected to cut the project cost to about P6 billion, generating savings of up to P11 billion from the earlier P17-billion proposal.
Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez assured the EDSA Busway would remain operational throughout the rehabilitation, with enough buses deployed to ensure uninterrupted service.
About 100 buses are to be added to the EDSA carousel route to encourage commuting and address the traffic schemes that will be implemented by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to reduce the number of private vehicles on the major road.
The Department of Transportation (DOTr), meanwhile, will build three new EDSA Busway stations in 2026 to improve the efficiency and accessibility of the capital’s dedicated bus lane system. The new stations will be located in Cubao, Magallanes and the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX).
The EDSA carousel has helped commuters a lot. The travel time from Quezon City to Makati, for one, can be reduced to as short as 15 minutes, even during the holiday rush.
But rehabilitating EDSA is not the cure-all for reducing traffic congestion. As I’ve written in the past, the underlying issues that cause traffic are still not being addressed.
It is a fact that the rehabilitation of EDSA and other major streets is long overdue. The uneven road conditions have posed severe hazards to motorists and commuters.
Will EDSA’s reconstruction job provide the real answer to Metro Manila’s traffic nightmare? The EDSA rebuild, in my opinion, is just a superficial solution to traffic congestion.
A growing population, the lack of mass transportation system and wide roads, and the continuous migration of workers from the provinces to Metro Manila have created the perfect storm that is causing traffic mayhem in the whole of the capital region. Urban decongestion provides the real solution to traffic gridlock.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has pursued in the past the development of nearby provinces and cities to decongest Metro Manila.
New and expanded roads and railway networks will ease traffic in the metropolis, but they can only provide quick fix remedies to the urban snarl. Developing and improving mobility in Metro Manila’s nearby provinces such as Bulacan, Pampanga, Laguna and Cavite are among the priorities that will address the traffic problems.
Building a satellite city just outside Metro Manila or less than 100 kilometers from the metropolis makes better sense as President Marcos suggested. The only way to improve the traffic situation and the quality of life in the capital region is through decongestion.
New satellite cities, hopefully, will rectify the past mistakes of city planning. They will generate new jobs and can reverse the migration of workers to Metro Manila.
By decongesting Metro Manila, the capital region can plan and respond better to the demand for infrastructure and social services of a growing population.
E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or extrastory2000@gmail.com
