Skyway’s new Alabang ramp to open tomorrow

Ahead of the Dec. 1 opening of a new, two-lane Skyway ramp in Alabang and the reopening of a third lane at its at-grade section, San Miguel Corp. (SMC) president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang lauded the government’s efforts to ensure the project would be completed on time.

“Given the tight timetable we had to implement major engineering and construction works, we could not have completed the new ramp and the initial phase of construction for the Skyway Extension, without the ‘bayanihan’ spirit demonstrated by the team of President Duterte, led by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and the Department of

Transportation (DOTr),” Ang said yesterday.

He said DPWH Secretary Mark Villar lent SMC much-needed resources, including bridge construction materials, to ensure that the new ramp is built on time.

The ramp is part of preliminary works for the Skyway Extension project, a P10-billion initiative by SMC to ease traffic on the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) by giving motorists access to the Skyway from Susana Heights and the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway.

“Northbound traffic will now have up to five lanes during rush hour. This is already a big improvement from what we had prior to the start of construction, which was just three lanes on the Alabang viaduct and Skyway at-grade,” Ang said.

“With this, we expect the current traffic situation to improve, even as we continue construction of the Skyway Extension, which is set for completion by 2020,” he added.

Ang noted that the narrowing from five lanes to three lanes at the SLEX-Alabang viaduct area, a design flaw inherited by SMC from the previous concessionaire, was also a major cause of daily traffic.

Ang added that the DPWH and DOTr have also worked in tandem to make possible the completion by April next year of a much larger undertaking: the Skyway Stage 3 project.

“Because of Villar and Tugade, many of the right-of-way issues that were holding back Skyway Stage 3 for years were immediately solved, including those involving Manila Water, Maynilad, Meralco, and others. This was a major achievement that we are deeply grateful for,” he said.

Ang added that Villar personally made possible the extension of Skyway 3 from A. Bonifacio all the way to the North Luzon Expressway’s Balintawak toll plaza.

“This just goes to show that when we – the private sector, government, and the public –cooperate and work together to achieve a common goal, there is nothing that we Filipinos cannot do,” Ang said.