Country’s First Elevated U-turn Now Open on C-5

The country’s first elevated u-turn slot, on the northbound lane of C5 near Kalayaan Avenue in Makati, was inaugurated yesterday, with a promise that it would ease traffic and reduce accidents on the busy intersection.

The elevated U-turn, which cost P350 million and six months to build, would make it easier for vehicles from Makati along Kalayaan Avenue to get onto C5 toward Pasig, Quezon City and Marikina, said Robert Esquivel, chief of the traffic enforcement group at the Metro Manila Development Authority.
He said construction of a second elevated U-turn on the southbound lane would begin in mid-August, and that the intersection of C5 and Kalayaan would eventually be closed after the construction.

In the last few months, work on the first U-turn slot created heavy traffic that slowed movement on the Pasig flyover to a crawl.

But traffic managers said the elevated U-turn would result in fewer accidents.

Data from the MMDA’s Road Safety Unit showed more than 400 accidents occurred on Metro Manila U-turn slots in the first half of the year.

That translated to about two to three accidents a day, officials said.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando said the original plan by the Public Works Department was to build a tunnel. But this proposal was scrapped in favor of the cheaper elevated U-turn.

An elevated U-turn cost P350 million, while a tunnel would cost P600 million, he said.

Fernando added that tunnels would be prone to flooding and difficult to maintain.

by Rio N. Araja, Manila Standard; Photo from angelneo of Skyscrapercity.com

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4. Motorists Advised to Avoid C-5-Kalayaan Intersection