Buses and delivery vans banned from Skyway starting Feb. 16

MANILA: Starting February 16, 2020, buses and delivery vans will be prohibited from using the elevated portion of the expressway, or the Skyway. Instead, they will be only allowed to use the at-grade lanes of the expressway (the ones under the Skyway).

This was implemented in order to facilitate traffic flow of Class 1 vehicles (cars, SUVs, vans, pick-ups and other private vehicles) after a portion of the southbound lanes of the Skyway (from Sucat to Filinvest) were closed to give way to roadworks and construction of the southbound section of the P10-billion Skyway Extension project.

The extension will connect the existing Skyway to the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) near Susana Heights and the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX), and will involve the construction of a three-lane, elevated northbound section and a two-lane, elevated southbound section.

Once finished, it will allow vehicles to bypass the Alabang viaduct and increase the Skyway’s northbound capacity by 4,500 vehicles per hour, while the southbound capacity goes up to 3,000 vehicles per hour.

Meanwhile, the traffic scheme below has been developed to reduce traffic congestion during the construction period:

• Buses and delivery vans coming from Makati, Manila, and Pasay bound for Alabang must take the Nichols southbound entry toll plaza to the at-grade Skyway
• Buses and delivery vans from NAIA Expressway bound for Alabang must take Andrews Ave. going to Sales Road, then take Nichols southbound entry toll plaza to the at-grade Skyway
• Buses and delivery vans from NAIA Expressway can also take the Magallanes northbound off-ramp, make a U-turn under the Magallanes interchange, then head to the Nichols southbound entry toll plaza to the at-grade Skyway

Additional road closures should be expected in the following areas to make way for bored piling and column installation:

• Alabang southbound and Bunye South Station exit toll plazas
• A portion of the northbound West service road
• The Hillsborough off-ramp from the elevated Skyway to at-grade Skyway.

“Yet again, we are asking for our motorists’ patience and support. We want to do everything to make traffic more manageable. Your cooperation and observance of traffic rules and the new traffic schemes will be very critical. Traffic in Alabang has been a problem for all of us for many, many years. Today, we have a long-term solution. Let’s all work together to make it happen,” SMC president Ramon S. Ang said.

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