SMC speeds up work on Skyway extension
To speed up work on the Skyway Extension project, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) will close off the Alabang southbound exit toll plaza starting Saturday midnight, February 20, 2021.
The Skyway Extension project is a key feature of the 38-kilometer elevated Skyway system, extending it from Skyway Main Line Toll Plaza in Sucat, Paranaque to Susana Heights at SLEX and back.
Adding three lanes going north and two lanes going south, the extension provides motorists a direct connection to Skyway 1 and 2 and SMC’s recently opened Skyway Stage 3.
As work on the southbound section is about to enter the advanced phase, the Skyway management advised motorists to take alternative routes as they close the road beside the Alabang viaduct.
Motorists can also expect heavy traffic in the area because of the construction work, which will include the installation of girders, coping beams, and pre-cast slabs.
“There is no way of getting around this key stage in construction. We really have to do it. It will be a temporary inconvenience," SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang acknowledged.
Motorists can take alternative routes, however.
Class 1 vehicles headed to Alabang or Alabang-Zapote Rd. Can take Filinvest Exit Toll Plaza towards their destination.
Class 1, 2 and 3 vehicles bound for Alabang, Putatan, and National Road can take the Susana Exit Toll Plaza, turn right at Susana Heights Ave., and turn either left or right on the National Road to their respective destinations.
“We’re again appealing for patience and understanding from our motorists in the south and residents in the area, for any delays that they may experience, as we work to complete the Skyway Extension," according to Ang.
Once completed, the Skyway Extension will make travel to and from southern Metro Manila and southern Luzon provinces much faster and more convenient, especially with the new Skyway Stage 3 from Buendia, Makati to the North Luzon Expressway, providing seamless connection to the north.
“Today, our motorists are already benefiting from travel from Alabang to Balintawak via Skyway 1,2, and 3," says the SMC President.
"Once the Skyway Extension is completed, we will be extending access a little farther down Southern Luzon Expressway (SLEX), near the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway.
With this, motorists coming from Cavite, Laguna, Batangas can bypass Alabang--and avoid experiencing traffic there--and go straight to their destinations in Makati, Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, all the way to NLEX.”
“Another major benefit of this project will be the decongestion of traffic along major roads to Muntinlupa, Las Pinas, and Cavite.
Traffic in areas such as the Alabang-Zapote Road and other roads feeding into SLEX has grown a lot in the past decades, because of more residential and industrial developments. With Skyway Extension’s increased capacity, traffic in these areas will ease and flow more freely,” he added.