President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led yesterday the formal opening of two elevated U-turn slots on C-5 Road in Makati City, shortly after she arrived from her official visits to Egypt and Syria.

Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chairman Bayani Fernando and other local officials welcomed the President as she headed the 200-meter inaugural drive aboard a pickup truck.

During a short briefing on the project, Fernando said the P350-million road project would ease traffic on the 24-kilometer C-5 Road.

He added that the interchange near the corner of C-5 and Kalayaan Avenue in Barangay (village) East Rembo would help save over P1 billion in terms of gasoline and man hours lost due to heavy traffic in the area during rush hour.

With the completion of the U-turn slots, Fernando said the average speed of vehicles passing by the highway would reach at least 43.6 kilometers per hour, or more than double the present average speed.

The project, he added, was part of Arroyo’s 10-point agenda which she presented in her State of the Nation Address in 2007.

“Mission accomplished ma’am. I hope you like it,” Fernando told Arroyo who, he said, had instructed him to build a seamless connection between the North and South Luzon Expressways through the C-5 highway.

“I hope this would lessen traffic in your jurisdiction,” Arroyo told local officials who joined the mid-morning program.

Funded by the MMDA, an attached agency under the Office of the President, Fernando said the project was the first of its kind in the world.

Unlike underpasses, he said an elevated U-turn slot does not require lighting for 24 hours.

“We also don’t have to install water pumps to keep it safe from floodwaters. The government will save a lot of money because an elevated U-turn slot only needs minimal supervision,” Fernando explained.

Pateros Mayor Joey Medina said the new interchange would benefit his constituents as C-5 serves as the main thoroughfare going in and out of Pateros.

Taguig City Mayor Freddie Tiñga also welcomed the construction of the elevated U-turn slots, saying it will help them manage traffic within the Bonifacio Global City, the city’s main business district.

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The Metro Manila Development Authority today hoped that the Department of Public Works and Highways would heed the request of the agency to build an elevated U-turn along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City.

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando said an elevated U-turn in the major thoroughfare would further ease the traffic in the area especially during rush hours.

“It’s most appropriate there because of the wide lanes,” Fernando said during a radio program this morning.

He said building elevated U-turns in some major thoroughfares in the metropolis would also greatly help the traffic in these areas.

Fernando cited that such structures will be appropriate in selected areas of Quezon Avenue.

As this developed, Fernando said the elevated U-turn along Kalayaan Avenue in Makati City will be open to traffic on April 15.

By Dennis Carcamo, Philippine Star

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The traffic flow along C-5/Kalayaan Road has shown dramatic improvement over the past two weeks due to an elevated U-turn slot in the area, Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) officials said.

MMDA officials said travel speed from Lawton, Manila to Buting, Pasig has reportedly increased from 17.93 to 34.14 kilometers per hour (kph), reflecting a 90 percent improvement in travel time.

From Pasig to Manila, travel also became faster by 14 percent, with a speed from 19.45 kph to 22.14 kph due to the project, they said.

Statistics showed that travel speed from Commando link in Taguig to Lanuza, Pasig also increased by 54 percent, from 28.85 kph to 44.3 kph.

The southbound lane from Pasig City to Global City also improved in travel speed by 107 percent, from 17.16 kph to 35.45 kph.

MMDA officials, led by Chairman Bayani Fernando, said the elevated U-turn slot in C-5/Kalayaan is working effectively.

Records showed that 153,796 vehicles pass through the area everyday based on a 2007 vehicle volume count by the agency’s Traffic Engineering Center (TEC).

The MMDA now expects 237,993 vehicles to use the elevated U-turn slot daily, which, it said, will not be a problem for as long as a second similar structure opens in the area.

The second elevated U-turn project will benefit northbound motorists who also use the C-5/Kalayaan road from the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) to Ortigas and Quezon City and vice versa.

MMDA officials said it will also be useful for vehicles coming from Pateros to Makati City and Pateros to the SLEX.

by Michael Punongbayan, Philippine Star

Photo by angelneo of Skyscrapercity.com

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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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