DOTr lays groundwork for 4.7-km EDSA elevated walkway

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority inspects the EDSA Busway Carousel – Monumento Station in Quezon City on Friday, September 23. Courtesy of MMDA Facebook page

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Transportation (DOTr) is looking for a general consultant through a bidding process to help realize the EDSA Greenways Project, a 4.7-kilometer (km) elevated walkway along Metro Manila’s busiest corridor.

In its request issued last week, the Transportation department said the general consultant would work together with the agency in managing the project, in addition to supervising the construction.

The expert will provide transaction advisory service for the selection of partners who will operate and maintain the footbridge system.

The general consultant will also engage in capacity development for the DOTr and implementation of health and safety safeguards.

‘Priority’ project

DOTr Secretary Vince Dizon, during his first weeks in the office, identified the EDSA Greenways as one of the priority projects under his term.

The mass transit walkway will be built along EDSA spanning Balintawak, Cubao, Guadalupe and Taft.

The idea is to build a better pedestrian access to and from selected railway stations of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Line 1, LRT 2 and Metro Rail Transit Line 3.

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This project is in line with the DOTr’s active transport program, which also highlights the need to set up separate bike lanes for cyclists.

This year, the DOTr is eyeing to build at least an additional 260 km of dedicated bike lanes. The country has about 812 km of cycleways so far and wants to establish 2,400 km by 2028.

A 2022 survey by the Social Weather Stations notes that one in four Filipino households owns a bike and about 30 percent of them have at least one household member biking for essential or leisure purposes.

Speeding up

To fast-track the country’s transportation projects, the Dizon ordered the creation of Flagship Project Management Office, which is tasked with directing policies related to infrastructure building and ensuring the “allotment of maximum effort and resources of the DOTr.”

READ: Dizon creates ‘flagship office’ to speed up transportation projects

The office also monitors the progress of the infrastructure flagship projects to ensure these will be completed within the set deadlines.

Other priority projects cited by Dizon are the Metro Manila Subway, North-South Commuter Railway and EDSA Busway.