Ramon S. Ang, the president and CEO of conglomerate San Miguel Corp., has ordered the construction of another exit ramp that will bypass the Quezon Avenue exit of Stage 3 and an additional lane from Magallanes to NAIAX intended to solve the perennial bottlenecks in these areas.
Here’s a report by Dax Lucas in today’s Biz Buzz column of the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s Business Section.
Coming soon: two less Skyway bottlenecks
The motorists spoke and Ramon Ang listened.
We’re talking about the vehicular traffic chokepoints at two key portions of the elevated Skyway toll road that tend to clog up during rush hour.
Biz Buzz learned that the president and CEO of conglomerate San Miguel Corp. has ordered the implementation of improvements on these bottlenecks to shorten travel time during periods of heavy congestion.
The first is the northbound Quezon Ave. exit of Skyway Stage 3, which tends to slow to a crawl during the late afternoon and early evening commute as many motorists head home. This is because the off-ramp is located just a couple of hundred meters before the Araneta Ave.-Quezon Ave. intersection. Because of this, the exit queue on the Skyway can sometimes extend to 300 meters.
Well, worry no more. Ang has approved the construction of another exit ramp that will bypass this heavily used crossing and allow motorists to return to ground level near the Maria Clara St. junction of Araneta Ave. Doing so will allow motorists who are heading past Quezon Ave. — which account for a significant number of drivers on any given day—to bypass the problematic intersection.
The second improvement will be made on the southbound section of the Skyway that has been a bane to motorists since long before San Miguel took over the concession. This is the Sales Road interchange where motorists ascending the Magallanes on-ramp intersect with vehicles exiting into the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) Expressway, all within 200 meters, resulting in major traffic buildups during rush hour.
Ang ordered the addition of one more lane from Magallanes to NaiaEx to address heavy vehicular flow, as well as the addition of two lanes to allow motorists to ascend to Skyway level from the South Luzon Expressway in the C-5 area. This will allow southbound motorists to enter the Skyway after the heavily used Magallanes area.
Of course, these improvements will cost San Miguel money, but it’s a small price for the conglomerate to pay to improve the experience of motorists, Ang says.
PHOTO of Skyway traffic lifted from Kim Fajardo Facebook page
