Today, if a resident of Parañaque, Las Piñas, or Cavite, wanted to go to a party in Makati, he would have to head out an hour and 20 minutes prior to meet-up time. These areas currently do not have direct access to C5 and to get there, he would have to drive through Cavitex, NAIA-Expressway, and Sales Road in Pasay.

Once the C5 South Link Expressway, a 7.7 kilometer, six-lane expressway project is completed, travel time from Parañaque, Las Pinas, and Cavite to Makati and Taguig will be reduced from an hour and a half to about 20 to 30 minutes. The project is expected to decongest Sales Road in Pasay and EDSA by about 50,000 vehicles when it starts commercial operations.

According to Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, the first section of the project, spanning about two kilometres, is now about 94 percent complete. The elevated expressway connecting Merville to SLEX will be completed within the year.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

The first set of girders of the main bridge, which crosses on top of the PNR station by the Skyway between Nichols Toll Plaza and Bicutan was already installed last October.

Photo by DPWH.GOV.PH .

CONTINUE READING BELOW Recommended Videos

7.7 km expressway completed by 2021

The entire alignment is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2021. The network, which will start at R1 Coastal Expressway, will eventually connect to Merville, E. Rodriguez and Sucat. The C5 Southlink will reduce travel time from R1 Interchange to South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and C5 from 40 minutes to only 10 minutes.

ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW

The C5 Southlink is part of the Luzon Spine Expressway Network, a 1,040 km expressway network which will connect the northern and southernmost parts of Luzon. By building a total of 18 expressways with a total road length of 655 kilometers, we aim to complement the existing expressway network spanning 385 kilometers. Once completed, the travel time from SLEX to NLEX will be reduced from two hours to only 20 minutes.

Anna Mae Lamentillo is the chairperson of the Build Build Build Committee of the Department of Public Works and Highways.