Rehabilitation of Edsa to finally start middle of June
After being deferred several times, the long overdue rehabilitation of Edsa will finally start in June, according to the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
Initially planned to start at the end of March, the government bumped up the plans to April, again postponing its start to May 15, or three days after the midterm elections.
Authorities, however, have yet to disclose its traffic management plan for the road works—estimated to be completed in more than a year—which could worsen the traffic in Metro Manila’s busiest highway.
According to Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon, the DOTr, DPWH and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority met on Monday to finalize the plans for implementing the Edsa Rebuild Program.
“Rehabilitating Edsa is a complicated project. Our target is to start it by the middle of June. We need to start this soon,” Dizon told reporters on Tuesday.
He said the government would announce “very soon” what the public could do to address the expected heavy traffic along the busy thoroughfare during its rehabilitation.
“We know that there will be heavy traffic. We will not deny that. Our countrymen need to understand that,” Dizon noted. “But it’s not that the government will not do anything. The President said yesterday that we need to somehow ease the inconvenience to be experienced by our countrymen.”
Alternative routes
In an interview on Teleradyo Serbisyo on Tuesday, Public Works Secretary Manuel Bonoan said among the traffic arrangements they were finalizing was to identify alternate routes that motorists could use during the Edsa rehabilitation.
According to Bonoan, among the solutions proposed by the DOTr was to use Skyway Stage 3 as an alternate route, as well as adding trains to accommodate more passengers of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT-3).
Both the DOTr and the DPWH had assured the public that the Edsa Busway will remain in operation even while the Edsa rehab is in full swing.
“What is important here is we have to disseminate the information to the motoring public who use Edsa on what they should do. They have to understand what the new traffic scheme is and, of course, the anticipated traffic disturbance while we work on the Edsa rehabilitation,” he pointed out.
The DPWH has been directed to fast-track the rehabilitation to ensure Edsa is ready ahead of the Philippines’ hosting of the Asean Summit meeting next year.
Bonoan earlier said that they would prioritize finishing before the end of the year the Edsa section from Pasay to Guadalupe as this will be the primary route to be taken by the delegates of the Asean Summit.
Bridge repair
Traffic is expected to worsen as a portion of the Guadalupe Bridge, which connects Makati and Mandaluyong along Edsa, is set to be temporarily closed to traffic by October for rehabilitation.
The DPWH will start the repairs on the outer lanes of the 60-year-old infrastructure after the construction of a temporary bridge. The rehabilitation work is expected to last 17 months.
According to the DPWH, the Edsa rehabilitation works will be done “by segments, one lane at a time,” starting from the innermost Edsa bus lane.
One segment of the repair work will start in the northbound portion of Edsa from the Quezon City-Caloocan boundary to Monumento.
While the affected lane will be closed for repairs, other Edsa Carousel bus stations will have gaps that can accommodate at least two buses.
Once the closed segments from the first lane are fully rehabilitated, the Edsa bus lane will move back to its original lane to accommodate its regular operations.
The construction works will then move to the second lane from the Edsa bus lane up to the outer lane, one at a time.
Round-the-clock
Road works will be done 24 hours a day to fast-track its completion.
The Edsa rehabilitation project will cover one northbound and 15 southbound segments, with an estimated cost of P300 million for the northbound segment, and P7 billion for the southbound sections.
The DPWH sees the rehabilitation as the long-term solution to the problems of frequent pothole patching and damaged pavements along Edsa.
It will use reinforced concrete to strengthen road integrity against the high volume of vehicles, and involve asphalt overlaying works with anti-rutting modifiers to increase the road’s durability.
Meanwhile, Edsa’s drainage system will also be improved with the installation of high-density polyethylene or HDPE pipes, which are widely used for their durability, resistance to corrosion and chemicals, flexibility, and long lifespan.
