6 projects may clog Makati traffic, rerouting needed

Ttraffic advisory for the construction of the Skyway Stage 3 project is displayed along Osmeña Highway in Manila. RICHARD A. REYES

Makati City, where the country’s financial district is located, has warned that traffic will worsen when six major road and utilities projects are started this year. The earliest to start will be the Skyway Stage 3 project that will connect the South and North Luzon Expressways, providing an alternate route to EDSA. Makati City Hall said that a traffic rerouting scheme affecting 10 barangays was being prepared.

Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr. said that the city would need a wider traffic management plan based on his meetings with government agencies and companies tasked with the following projects: the retrofitting and rehabilitation of Magallanes Interchange (which began on Saturday), the relocation of the First Philippine Industrial Corp. (FPIC) gas pipeline, the setup of a huge double-barreled box culvert by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and a smaller box culvert by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), and pipeline works of Manila Water.

The Skyway project would require traffic rerouting and vehicle flow to be diverted to certain streets in the following barangays: San Isidro, San Antonio, Poblacion, Bel-Air, Bangkal, Sta. Cruz, Palanan, Olympia, Pio del Pilar and La Paz, Binay said in a statement.

Preliminary works on the Skyway project began on Feb. 17 with the installation of posts on Osmeña Avenue, from Gil Puyat in Makati to San Andres in Manila. Actual construction of the elevated highway will begin on April 15, with the work expected to take around eight months on the Makati side, Binay said. Osmeña Avenue is a major entry and exit point in Makati, used by an average of 115,000 vehicles daily.

“The Skyway Stage 3 project is one important transport infrastructure to be constructed this decade that would ease the worsening traffic flow in the metropolis. My administration totally supports this project, and we are preparing traffic plans that would aid motorists and commuters in reaching their destination faster despite the closure of some lanes. Sidewalks will also be constructed wherever possible in order to keep the pedestrians safe,” Mayor Binay said.

Meanwhile, required rehabilitation works being made by  DPWH on Magallanes Interchange will include asphalt laying and the repair of expansion joints. The work will be done during off-peak hours from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily.

FPIC is also expected to start on its gas pipeline this week to make way for the construction of the DPWH box culvert, the statement said. The FPIC project is not related to the 2010 West Tower condominium oil leak in Barangay Bangkal, where clean-up efforts are still going on, according to Makati City public information officer Joey Salgado.

The clean-up involves the relocation of a 40-meter stretch of pipeline to a deeper section of Osmeña Highway to give way to the MMDA drainage system in the Osmeña-Mojica Street junction, he said. Work on the pipeline is expected to affect three southbound lanes of the six-lane Osmeña for three months, Salgado added.

The proponents of the six projects are expected to submit to the Makati city government their respective rerouting schemes, which will be the city’s basis for a comprehensive traffic management plan.

With report by Jaymee T. Gamil