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San Miguel’s Ramon Ang says sorry to motorists for gridlock caused by Skyway project


San Miguel Corporation president and chief operating officer Ramon S. Ang on Friday issued an apology to motorists caught in the gridlock hounding the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) because of the ongoing construction works of the Skyway in the Alabang area.

On Sept. 25, Skyway O&M Corp. closed a northbound at-grade lane of the Skyway in Alabang to start preliminary work on the project. The stretch of slow-moving vehicles on that day reached 19 kilometers, way above the daily average of 10 kilometers, according to San Miguel.

“Again, I sincerely apologize to all affected motorists—those who got stuck in traffic on that day, and everyone who continues to be inconvenienced by this project,” Ang said in a statement.

“My commitment to you is that by December 1, all preliminary work will be done. We will reopen the closed-off lane and restore use of all three at-grade northbound lanes.”

SMC subsidiary Skyway O&M is installing a temporary steel on-ramp to connect the Alabang viaduct to Skyway.

“Traffic will not only return to ‘normal’ levels, it will even improve. That’s because we are also opening the temporary ramp from the Alabang viaduct going up to Skyway. With a total of five lanes northbound, I think we can expect a significant improvement in the traffic,” Ang noted.

The two-lane ramp will be operational by December 1, 2019 and will expand the northbound section of SLEX in Alabang from three to five lanes.

“The limitations in the original design of the SLEX are that it has five lanes coming from Susana Heights heading to Alabang,” Ang noted.

“However, this narrows to four lanes at the Alabang viaduct and connects with the Skyway at-grade that has only three lanes. This is the main reason why Alabang has always been a chokepoint for traffic,” he said.

“This is the main reason why we are building the Skyway extension. We want to make the northbound and southbound sections five lanes each all throughout,” he added.

The more than P10-billion Skyway Extension project funded by San Miguel is extending the Skyway to the Susana Heights / Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX).

It will add three northbound lanes, translating to additional capacity of 4,500 vehicles per hour, and two lanes southbound for an additional 3,000 vehicles per hour.

“By next year, September or October, we will complete the Skyway Extension. This will solve northbound and southbound traffic congestion once and for all,” Ang said.

By April 1 next year, Skyway O&M will open the Skyway Stage 3 project stretching from Buendia in Makati to San Juan, Manila, Quezon City, and all the way to the North Luzon Expressway.

“That is another reason why we have to do the Skyway Extension in the south. With the opening of Skyway Stage 3, more vehicles will be using the expressway. We want to eliminate choke points and give motorists a seamless connection from north to south and vice-versa,” Ang said.

Some 1 million vehicles are added to Philippine roads each year, and yet for the longest time, Edsa has served as the lone connector between northern and southern Luzon, Ang noted.

“Today, travel time between Baliktawak up to Buendia in Makati takes several hours. With the Skyway Stage 3, that will only take 15 minutes. Motorists from the south can also go directly to any point in Makati, Manila, Quezon city, and bypass Alabang and Edsa,” he said.

“More importantly, Skyway 3 will take out about 50% of the vehicles on Edsa, according to our estimates,” he said.

“That is why we are asking for just a little more patience and cooperation from the public. Para sa atin po lahat ito, solusyon sa matagal nang problema sa traffic. If we do not do this now, for sure, the situation will be much worse for all of us in the very near future,” Ang added. —Ted Cordero/VDS, GMA News

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