We’ve seen proposals for solving EDSA traffic appear here and there in the last few months. This time around, San Miguel Corporation (SMC) has decided to join the discussion and pitch in some of its ideas as well.

In a recent press briefing with Department of Transportation (DOTr) secretary Arthur Tugade, SMC chairman and chief operating officer Ramon Ang talked about the current traffic woes surrounding Metro Manila. “Yun namang traffic sa EDSA, ang problema is we are adding more than 720,000 Japanese and Korean cars, hindi pa kasama diyan yung Indian at German. 720,000 new cars a year—wala naman tayong phase-out ng mga luma (na sasakyan). Wala rin naman tayong naitayong bagong highway or tulay or bridge, kaya nagkakaroon ng maraming problema ang trapiko.”

He then revealed that an idea for a 10-lane elevated tollway along EDSA has been brought up with the DOTr. This tollway will stretch from Macapagal Avenue in Pasay City all the way to Balintawak. Ang also mentioned that the implementation of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system along the elevated roads will also help solve decongest EDSA even further. “Each BRT, 300 passengers. It can carry 1.5 million passengers a day,” he added.

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According to a report by CNN, SMC is looking at a possible duration of 24-30 months for the completion of the project. “Lagay mo P200 to P150 eh mura pa rin yun,” said Ang when asked about the possible toll rates. However, no other details about the project were revealed, but the company expects to submit the official proposal to the transportation agency in the coming weeks.

What do you think of this latest idea to solve the traffic along EDSA?