NIGHT OWL
Anna Mae Yu Lamentillo
In the next six years, the Duterte Administration will implement the most ambitious infrastructure plan in Philippine history, which includes among others the Luzon Spine Expressway Network, the Metro Manila Logistics Network, the Metro Cebu Expressway and the Davao City Coastal Road.
This 2018, the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, an elevated expressway linking MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela City and C3 Road in Caloocan City will be opened. When completed, travel time from Manila to Quezon City will be reduced from 1 hour and 30 mins to only 20 minutes.
The Harbor Link Project is a key component of the Luzon Spine Expressway Network, a 1,040 km expressway network which would connect the northern and southern most part of Luzon. By constructing 18 new expressways with a total road length of 655 km, Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar aims to compliment the existing expressway network spanning 385 km. Once completed, the travel time from Metro Manila to San Fernando, La Union will be reduced from six (6) hours and 55 minutes to three (3) hours and 10 minutes. Moreover, travel time from La Union to Bicol will be reduced from 19 hours and 40 minutes to eight (8) hours and 15 minutes.
Also part of the Luzon Spine is the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3, a 14.8 km – 6-lane elevated expressway which will connect Buendia, Makati City to Balintawak, Quezon City. This 2018, the present Metro Manila Skyway system from South Luzon Expressway will be accessible up to President Quirino Avenue in Manila.
Upon completion of the entire alignment which would have eight strategically located interchanges in Buendia Avenue, President Quirino Avenue, Plaza Dilao and Nagtahan, Aurora Boulevard, E. Rodriguez Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Sgt. Rivera and Balintawak, travel time from Makati to Quezon City will be reduced from 2 hours to only 15 to 20 minutes.
Another decongestion master plan is the Metro Manila Logistics Network, which will build an additional 12-bridge network across Pasig River, Marikina River and Manggahan Floodway to compliment the 26 existing bridges, which caters to about 1.3 million vehicles daily.
Included in the network is the 961-meter Bonifacio Global City – Ortigas Center Link Road Project, a 4-lane bridge across Pasig River connecting Lawton Avenue in Makati City and Sta. Monica Street in Pasig City and a viaduct structure traversing Lawton Avenue onwards to the entrance of Bonifacio Global City. When completed, traveling between the central business districts of Taguig and Pasig Cities will only take 12 minutes and traffic congestion at EDSA and C-5 Road particularly along Guadalupe Bridge and Bagong Ilog Bridge will be alleviated by about 25 percent.
Another big-ticket project is the Metro Cebu Expressway, a 73.75 km highway with a 2 km tunnel, which will reduce travel time from Danao City to Naga City by over 50% percent.
Also in the pipeline is the Davao City Coastal Road, an 18.50-km coastal road project spanning from Bago to Sta. Ana Wharf Road, which is expected to reduce travel time from Toril to Poblacion from 45 minutes to fifteen minutes.