8-month EDSA rehab starts on Christmas Eve

MANILA, Philippines, November 18 ------ After months of delays, the rehabilitation of EDSA will push through beginning Christmas Eve, with an eight-month timeline and a much lower budget. The Department of Public Works and Highways has junked the planned two-year EDSA repair and cut the budget from P17 billion to just P6 billion, DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon said.

Fixing Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare will be implemented in two phases of four months each, with the second phase covering EDSA’s remaining portion and Caloocan, Dizon said.

The first phase will cover Roxas Boulevard up to Orense Street in Makati. Repair works will start at 11 p.m. on Dec. 24 and end in April or May next year. Round-the-clock reblocking of select areas and asphalt overlay of the EDSA bus lane will be completed by 4 a.m. on Jan. 5. Asphalt overlay on a lane-to-lane basis will be done during weekdays from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m., starting at 10 p.m. on Jan. 5 next year. Workers will conduct asphalt overlay and reblocking on one affected lane every weekend, from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Stone mastic asphalt applied to airport runways and expressways will be used, Dizon said.“It has stronger resistance to elements and heavier loads, is more skid-resistant, has better resistance to water or moisture damage, and has longer maintenance life,” the DPWH said. Dizon recalled the original plan to reblock and replace the entire EDSA. “I know everyone’s angry at reblocking (everything),” he said. “That will not happen.”

Other scrapped proposals include the free use of the Metro Manila Skyway and the odd-even scheme, Dizon said. He assured motorists and commuters of “minimal disruption” to vehicular traffic during the repair works. Utility firms have been ordered to realign their schedule of road works to avoid interrupting the rehabilitation.

Number coding

The implementation of the number coding scheme on EDSA will remain, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Romando Artes said. Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez said they would ensure sufficient Carousel buses during the EDSA rehabilitation. Three sets of China-made Dalian trains will be deployed to Metro Rail Transit Line 3 on Dec. 25, Lopez said.

Source: philstar.com