BRT on Intracity Loop Expressway: A first

The recent announcement of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) of various new transportation infrastructure projects is welcome news. These projects are designed to increase urban mass transport ridership to 2.2 million per day.

Five of the six announced projects deserve support for their soonest implementation: 900-kilometer Luzon north-south railway, bus rapid transit (BRT) from Manila to QC, MRT7 from North Avenue to San Jose in Bulacan, LRT2 extension to Masinag in Antipolo, and LRT1 extension to Dasmariñas in Cavite.

These five projects will help redress the deficient transportation system in Luzon and Metro Manila. Once completed, the Luzon Railway will erase the unflattering distinction we have of being the only country in the region without a railroad system. More efficient, convenient and affordable transportation of people and commodities will foster stronger and more sustainable economic growth in the long term, creating more business opportunities and jobs.

The other one, the P135 billion 20-kilometer subway dubbed by DOTC “Mass Transit Loop System” to run from Bonifacio Global City (BGC) to Ayala Center and Pasay City reclaimed area, merits a serious think-over. It will be a nice showcase facility to have, particularly if undertaken entirely with private funds and without government subsidy. But it is more technically complex, very expensive and will take longer time to build. The reclaimed area and other low-lying areas will be an engineering challenge. The high cost-to-ridership ratio may impinge on its viability.

If not for the existing MRT3, Edsa would be an appropriate corridor to build a subway as it is the most important and congested traffic and commuter corridor in Metro Manila serving over half a million commuters daily. So many commuters will be thankful if such a huge P135 billion for the proposed BGC subway be instead invested to drastically improve the EDSA MRT3 to make it a showcase commuter line. The upgrade will spare them from suffering the very crammed coaches and stations, and time consuming queues, especially during peak hours. Service interruptions that occasionally occur will also become a thing of the past.

There is no question mass transit is needed in a densely populated metropolitan Manila. But a subway is not the only answer to the intended destinations. There are other more viable and doable solutions to more quickly help alleviate traffic congestion and commuters’ need. Viable mass transit alternatives are a system employing a series of rubber-tired buses running like a train called bus rapid transit (BRT) and city tram cars on rails. Both are proven elsewhere to be efficient people movers. The carriageway alternative is an urban loop expressway, consisting of ground and aboveground roadways that will have a longer route and serve more commuters. Such alternatives can cover the same destinations as the proposed subway plus many other important destinations, including Naia, Newport City and interlink with more mass transit stations of MRT3, LRT and PNR.

These transit and carriageway alternatives will cost much less, easier and faster to complete and will benefit more commuters. Except for the Naia Expressway, which is a PPP project, the other segments of the expressway should be toll-free as it will combine existing major at-grade roadways connected to existing and new skyways. The possible route and transit stations are BGC-Lawton Ave.-SLEX/PNR- Newport City-Naia Expressway T3/4/2/1-LRT1 Baclaran-Entertainment City-MOA-Buendia/LRT1 Taft-PNR Osmena Highway-Ayala/Buendia-Buendia/Makati Ave.-Kalayaan skyway-BGC 32nd Ave./St. Luke’s. If a subway is desired, a short one may be done at BGC under the congested 5th St. to link 32nd Avenue to Lawton Avenue.

Some of the road upgrades needed in certain segments of the proposed expressway are already being planned. They are the widening of a short stretch of Lawton Avenue at the ongoing West McKinley development and the intersection separation at Buendia/Paseo de Roxas and Buendia/Makati Avenue. But these piecemeal efforts must be expanded and integrated to comprise a complete loop expressway.

The existing Kalayaan skyway and the soon to be completed Naia Expressway coupled with the existing yet upgradeable Lawton Avenue in Fort Bonifacio and the long arterial Buendia Avenue stretching from Pasay to Makati present an opportunity for interconnection that must be quickly exploited and upgraded to develop the first urban east-west loop expressway in the country. This will complement the SLEX-NLEX north-south connector expressway and the DOTC proposed subway, if it comes to fruition.

Necessarily, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) must take part to undertake the needed road grade separations with overpasses at certain intersections, upgrade the entire Lawton Avenue into a 6- or 8-lane intersection-free parkway to be connected to the Naia Expressway at SLEX junction and construct a new skyway to overpass the flood and traffic-prone Buendia Avenue from Pasay to Makati. Doing so will provide continuous all-weather traffic flow on the entire loop expressway for both mass transit and road vehicles alike.

The Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) must also play its part to preserve the needed road right-of-way, particularly for the expansion and conversion of Lawton Avenue into a parkway before the same is preempted by ongoing development by private developers. Foresight and forward planning are needed for better infrastructure.

With the fiscal space now available to the government and so much liquidity, the opportunity is at hand to undo over half a century of neglect and underinvestment in road and transport infrastructure that has caused so much inconvenience to the people and hobbled the economy from achieving its full potential.

An urban expressway is not a novel concept for quick circulation of vehicles. It is a common feature of highly congested cities. In Hong Kong, a high speed freeway stretches along the harbor from Quarry Bay, at the eastern end to the western end of the island via central, providing a high-speed intersection-free roadway to provide access to the financial district and from all three cross harbour tunnels to Kowloon. The same can be found in Kowloon, Tokyo, Taipei and New York City, among others.

What remains is for policy makers and implementers to grab this opportunity and quickly complete by 2016 this first Metro-Manila urban transit expressway with mass transit.

(The article reflects the personal opinion of the author and does not reflect the official stand of the Management Association of the Philippines. The author is the chair of the Sub-Committee on Urban Development Committee of the Management Association of the Philippines and the president of Clairmont Group. Feedback at <[email protected]> and < [email protected]>.  For previous articles, please visit <map.org.ph>)