DPWH starts design of NLEX-SLEX flyover link in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has started the construction design of a flyover that would connect two major highways in Quezon City. The P420 million flyover project in Quezon City is one of the vital links in the 41-kilometer North Luzon and South Luzon Expressways (NLEX-SLEX) project of the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The flyover would go over Commonwealth Avenue and connect the Tandang Sora-Luzon Avenue section of C-5, according to engineer Reynaldo Rosario, DPWH-NCR assistant planning chief. "We're still doing the detailed design of the project and would only bid it out after the local government of Quezon City has cleared the road right of way (RROW)," Rosario told reporters in an interview on Monday. Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte in an earlier reports pledged P18 million to take care of the RROW residents and establishments that would be affected by the project. "This infrastructure is one of the segments of the NLEX-SLEX, which is one of President Arroyo's Luzon Urban Beltway projects mentioned in her SONA," Rosario said. The flyover will stretch have a width of 18 meters and will extend for about 300-meters over the center island. "The flyover project is one of the three remaining 'missing link' projects in which covers about 8-kilometers of the 41-kilometer long NLEX-SLEX project," Rosario said. Last week, the DPWH and the Quezon City government signed an agreement in which the local government would be in charged of clearing the RROW for the project. The agreement also calls for the Quezon City government to do part of the civil works and the construction of approaches, while the DPWH will be the one that will construct the flyover itself. The flyover is expected to shorten the travel time from NLEX to SLEX since motorists could go through C-5 to travel north to south or vice versa without going through EDSA. "Apart from using EDSA, motorist could use another major thoroughfare, which is the C-5," Rosario said. Two other projects are now under way in Quezon City – the Mindanao Avenue Extension and the Congressional Road project. - GMANews.TV