San Miguel Corp. said it would implement a new traffic scheme to facilitate the construction of the P10-billion Skyway Extension Project.
San Miguel said stakeholders”•Skyway O&M, the City Government of Muntinlupa and administrators of Filinvest Alabang Inc.—jointly approved a scheme to manage traffic flow for the duration of the construction.
Work for the southbound section of the Skyway Extension Project started last Feb. 16.
The project, which will extend the Skyway to Susana Heights, involves the construction of a three-lane, elevated northbound section and a two-lane, elevated southbound section that will run on either side of the South Luzon Expressway and connect to the existing Skyway.
It will increase the Skyway’s capacity by 4,500 vehicles per hour northbound, and 3,000 vehicles per hour southbound, giving motorists from Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and beyond, greater ease of travel to, or from, Metro Manila.
“We are once again appealing to motorists for their patience and understanding for the temporary inconvenience they may experience until construction activities are completed in the area. The Muntinlupa City Government, FAI, and Skyway, have come together and are helping each other, to ensure we have a traffic management plan in place, as we work on a long-term solution to traffic,” said Ramon Ang, president of San Miguel Corp., parent company of SMC Infrastructure, which operates the expressway.
“We apologize to you. This project is for your benefit, it will solve our long-standing traffic problem on SLEX and in Alabang. Let’s give our engineers and workers the chance to do what they need to finish the project,” he added.
The plan traffic scheme involves the closure of one southbound lane (Lane 3) of Skyway at-grade and the northbound lane of the West Service Road from the Sucat Interchange to Alabang Viaduct. and closures of southbound Alabang exit plaza (beside the Alabang viaduct) and the nearby southbound Bunye South Station (heading to Crimson, Filinvest).
These closures were originally scheduled last December but were deferred due to the busy holiday season.
Among the work to be done in the area are bored piling and column installation activities which are expected to be completed in six weeks.
Affected motorists, particularly those headed to Alabang or the Alabang Zapote Road, will be rerouted to the Filinvest Exit and through Filinvest City.
FAI said it was fully cooperating and “allowing the traffic rerouting scheme to extend our support to the initiative to finish the Skyway project.”
The City Government of Muntinlupa, together with the Muntinlupa Traffic Management Bureau, also reiterated their support and thanked Filinvest, Skyway, and other stakeholders for coming together and cooperating on the plan.
Set for completion by December 2020, the Skyway Extension Project will add two lanes going north for a total of five northbound lanes, and three lanes going south for a total of four southbound lanes.
It will provide motorists a direct connection to Skyway 1 and 2 and Skyway 3, which is set to open in April.
This will allow motorists coming from the south to bypass Alabang and even EDSA, if they are headed to the airport, Makati, Manila, San Juan, Quezon City, all the way to the North Luzon Expressway.
