MMDA: Traffic jams to last till 2016

MANILA, Philippines - Motorists should brace for traffic jams starting this month until the first quarter of 2016 as at least nine major infrastructure projects get underway, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said yesterday.

Among the projects expected to severely affect the flow of vehicular traffic in Metro Manila are the Skyway 3 project, which broke ground yesterday; the Gil Puyat-Pasay Road underpass in Makati; the extensions of the Light Rail Transit Lines 1 and 2; the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) elevated expressway; the EDSA-Taft flyover; the McKinley ramp at the Bonifacio Global City and the Lawton bridge that would connect Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong with the BGC across the Pasig River.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino met with the projects’ proponents yesterday morning during the regular meeting of the Metro Manila Council, which is composed of all the mayors of the metropolis.

He said the MMDA will convene a traffic management summit early next month and he expects the proponents of the infrasructure projects as well as the executives of the affected local government units to attend.

Tolentino said they will draw up a traffic management plan to ease the traffic woes.

Overlapping schedules

Tolentino said the NAIA elevated expressway project will begin this quarter while the construction of the EDSA-Taft flyover will start in the last quarter of 2014.

He said the repair of the Magallanes interchange will start this month and is expected to affect the flow of traffic along EDSA, which would be further slowed down by the construction of the Skyway 3, which will link Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati to Balintawak in Quezon City. The Skyway 3 project is expected to be completed in 36 months.

As a stopgap measure, the MMDA will reopen new alternate routes in Metro Manila similar to the “Christmas lanes” used during the holidays.

Tolentino said the MMDA will also require project proponents to field more flagmen to help guide motorists, especially at night, when there are fewer MMDA traffic enforcers on the roads.

He asked motorists to bear with the expected heavy traffic flow until the projects are completed by the first quarter of 2016.

“Patience is needed. No pain, no gain. By the time the first quarter of 2016 comes around, we will see the benefits,” Tolentino said.

He noted that the McKinley ramp project will only take six months while the construction of Lawton bridge will take over a year.