Cubao to Makati commute in 5 minutes still possible says Villar

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said Cubao, Quezon City to Makati commute in 5 minutes is still possible this 2020 via Edsa or another route.

“Let’s not focus on the small details. What’s important is during the term of the President, we will decongest Edsa, and five minutes from Cubao to Makati is possible, and we will do it,” said Villar said during Malacañang press briefing.

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The DPWH Secretary said traffic on Edsa continues to improve as road and bridge projects were in progress.

Two significant projects would reduce traffics by 20 to 30 percent once the end of June 2020 completed them.

The Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 and the NLEx Harbor Link R10 Extension could cater to up to 130,000 vehicles. It would reduce the 400,000 cars that congest Edsa daily.

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Villar also said the projects under the P384-billion Edsa decongestion program would be completed by the end of Duterte’s term in 2022. By then, Edsa’s capacity was expected to return to the original 288,000 vehicles per day.

Also read: Heavy traffic causes patients death in ambulance

Cubao to Makati commute in 5 minutes still possible says, Villar

Villar assured the public that President Rodrigo Duterte could fulfill his promise to decongest Edsa.

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“If we take all the decongestion projects, we can expect that the President will deliver on his commitment to decongest Edsa. If before you thought it was impossible, now the decongestion of Edsa is inevitable,” he said.

Duterte, on June 8, 2019, announced on Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s television program that “You don’t have to worry about traffic. Cubao and Makati will be about five minutes na lang.”

The Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 project, if completed by April, will connect North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway, and will allow travel from Balintawak in Quezon City to Makati in 15 minutes, Villar said.

“He (Mr. Duterte) did not say [travel] through Edsa. The President just said Makati to Cubao, five minutes,” said Villar explaining how Makati to Quezon City in five minutes within this year is possible.