The public should brace for heavier traffic in the Mandaluyong and Makati areas as the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) starts repairs on Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge.
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) general manager Jose Arturo Garcia said the Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge will be closed to vehicular traffic for seven months starting September 23. The bridge connects Estrella Street in Makati City and Barangka Drive in Mandaluyong City.
According to Garcia, the bridge will be demolished and replaced with a new, wider one.
“From two lanes, the replacement bridge will have four lanes,” he said.
He warned that the bridge repair would further worsen traffic congestion along EDSA as thousands of vehicles going in and out of Makati and Mandaluyong will be diverted to Guadalupe Bridge.
“An average of 100,000 vehicles traverse the bridge on a daily basis. We are talking about 5,000 vehicles per hour here,” Garcia noted.
Ahead of the closure, MMDA is intensifying clearing operations and the issuance of citation tickets to owners of illegally parked vehicles on alternative routes.
“Please bear with us. This is just one project under the government’s effort to address traffic in Metro Manila,” Garcia appealed.
MMDA said other DPWH projects affecting traffic in Metro Manila are repairs of the Old Sta. Mesa Bridge, Nagtahan Bridge, Mabini Bridge, Concordia Bridge, Otis Bridge, and Sevilla Bridge.
