Government eyes Guadalupe Bridge rehab in Q4

MANILA, Philippines — The government is looking to start the rehabilitation works for the 50-year-old Guadalupe Bridge in the fourth quarter of the year, but only after it completes the expansion of EDSA, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) said.

“We are targeting to start this (retrofit of the EDSA-Guadalupe Bridge) hopefully if not last quarter this year, early part of next year,” DPWH Undersecretary Maria Catalina Cabral said Friday during the Build Better More Infrastructure Forum in New Clark City, Tarlac.

She said the retrofit of the bridge, however, will not start until the government is able to extend both sides of EDSA.

“We are not repairing it (EDSA-Guadalupe Bridge). It’s actually strengthening it. So we are building, expanding the capacity of EDSA in both sides before we start to retrofit,” she said.

She said the expansion of EDSA on both lanes would ensure additional carrying capacity before work on the Guadalupe Bridge begins.

She said the retrofit is being pushed to strengthen the bridge, which if not undertaken, will be a big problem if an earthquake hits Metro Manila.

Citing a study from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, she said the West Valley Fault is due anytime to emit an earthquake equivalent to magnitude 7.

Cabral also said work on the Guadalupe Bridge will not begin until the submitted traffic management plan to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority is approved.

In the same event, she said construction for the biggest project of the DPWH in terms of cost, the Bataan-Cavite Interlink Bridge (BCIB), is also being eyed to begin in the fourth quarter of this year or in the first quarter of next year.

With a project cost of P219 billion, the BCIB is expected to reduce travel time between Bataan and Cavite from five hours to 45 minutes by passing Metro Manila, Cabral said.