Part of Marcos Highway closed to traffic nightly

Traffic slows to a crawl on Marcos Highway on Tuesday afternoon. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ

For the next eight months, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will implement an alternating road closure scheme on a portion of Marcos Highway at night as work begins on the platform of the Light Rail Transit 2’s (LRT 2) Emerald station in Marikina City.

From Feb. 25 until October, the MMDA will alternately shut down every two days a 50-meter segment of the highway’s westbound and eastbound lanes where the station is being built. This will allow the LRT 2 extension project’s contractor, DMCI Holdings Inc., to install the platform’s coping beams, including other construction work.

Acting MMDA General Manager Jojo Garcia said that all work would be done at night to avoid inconveniencing the around 116,000 motorists who use the highway every day.

He added that the closure would be implemented every two days on each lane, starting with the westbound lane (Cubao-bound) from Feb. 25 to 26 followed by the eastbound lane (Marikina-bound) on Feb. 27 and 28.

Schedule of nightly closure

From Sundays to Thursdays, the road closure will be implemented from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.; from midnight up to 5 a.m. on Fridays and from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. on Saturdays.

Apart from putting up a zipper lane, the MMDA said that motorists could take alternate routes like Sumulong Highway, Gil Fernando, Ligaya, Ortigas Extension and A. Bonifacio Avenue.

On Monday night, the stretch of Regalado Highway from Bristol Street to Commonwealth Avenue will also be closed to traffic for five hours as the contractor for the Metro Rail Transit 7, EEI Corp., will test the piles it had placed in the area.

From 11 p.m. on Monday until 4 a.m. the following day,  motorists going to San Jose del Monte can take Mindanao Avenue and Regalado Avenue. For those going toward Quezon Memorial Circle, they can take Quirino Highway and Commonwealth Avenue or Belfast Street and Mindanao Avenue.

The EEI will also be carrying out for a week lane-marking activities on Commonwealth Avenue from University Avenue to Philcoa. Garcia, however, said this would not affect traffic in the area.

Bank Drive open to motorists

As a respite to motorists, the MMDA said that starting tomorrow from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., motorists on Edsa southbound would be able to use Bank Drive to get to the Ortigas area. Garcia said that SM had earlier agreed to open to the public the access road before the start of mall hours.

Currently, motorists turning right can use only Guadix Drive. Since this is where the gate of the Asian Development Bank is located, there is always a long queue of cars on Edsa as vehicles must be inspected before being granted entry. – By: Jovic Yee