MANILA, Philippines — Traffic along EDSA would return to “acceptable” levels by the end of President Duterte’s term in 2022, with the public experiencing a significant improvement by yearend, Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark Villar said yesterday.
“When you talk about Metro Manila, you don’t have to look further than EDSA as the symbol of congestion. When he ran for the presidency, the President’s promise was to end traffic congestion at EDSA,” Villar said during a Pre-SONA Economic and Infrastructure Forum.
The President will deliver his State of the Nation Address on July 22.
Villar said the government needs to “take out 250,000 to 300,000 cars from EDSA daily in order to revert it back to an acceptable level of traffic.”
According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, traffic volume along EDSA – whose capacity is around 245,000 vehicles a day – has risen to 385,000 vehicles a day from 321,000 a day in 2016.
Villar said the government has ongoing projects that would provide alternative routes to EDSA. The Skyway project, once completed, would “reduce the traffic count” by 100,000 vehicles; the NLEX-SLEX connector road project, by 50,000 more; C-6 Road, 50,000; and various bridges across the metrolis, 50,000.
“When all these are finished, we would be able to bring back EDSA to its former state which is acceptable traffic. Rest assured this dream of EDSA is not a dream. It has come to a point of inevitability. We will decongest EDSA,” he said. – With Evelyn Macairan