EDSA sections closed for 3 months

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January 31, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Starting next week, parts of EDSA near West Avenue and North Avenue in Quezon City will be closed to motorists for three months, to give way to the continuing construction of Metro Rail Transit Line 7 or MRT-7.

According to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), workers will install parts of a steel superstructure that will connect the MRT-7 North EDSA turnback track along West Avenue from Feb. 1 to May 19.

The MMDA said all lanes in the affected portions of EDSA would be closed from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Select lanes – the two outermost lanes on the northbound direction and two innermost lanes southbound – would be closed from 4:01 a.m. to 9:59 p.m. for the girder launching activities, the MMDA added.

“During this period, several heavy equipment and machinery would lift girders. The affected lanes of EDSA would be restored by late April 2026,” the MMDA said in a statement.

The agency said the reopening of closed northbound lanes is scheduled on May 8 while those in the southbound direction is on May 18.

“The closed lanes will serve as sites where tower support systems will be built for the girder launching activities. The closures will ensure that motorists and commuters are not put in harm’s way while heavy equipment maneuver during the lifting and launching works,” the MMDA explained.

As alternative routes, motorists driving to EDSA-Balintawak from Cubao can use Quezon Avenue, Agham Road, North Avenue, Mindanao Avenue and its extension, Congressional Avenue, Quezon Memorial Circle, Visayas Avenue, Road 8 in Barangay Pag-asa as well as Ilocos Sur Street and Corregidor Street.

Those going to EDSA-Cubao from Balintawak can take FPJ Avenue (Roosevelt Avenue), Quezon Avenue, Timog Avenue, West Avenue, Examiner Street and Baler Street or Del Monte Avenue.

West Avenue-bound motorists from Balintawak can use FPJ Avenue, Quezon Avenue going to the nearest U-turn slot, Bulacan Street, Baler Street or Del Monte Avenue and Bansalangin Street in Project 7.

‘Don’t allow cars on busway’

Meanwhile, commuter and transport groups are asking the Department of Transportation (DOTr) to reject proposals to open the EDSA busway to private vehicles, even to carpooling.

Advocacy group AltMobility said the busway works best when kept as an exclusive lane for commuters, and warned that opening it to private cars would reduce its efficiency as a transport solution.

Similarly, Provincial Bus Operators Association of the Philippines executive director Alex Yague said the busway would become less efficient if private cars are allowed to use it.

Yague believes that allowing private vehicles could interrupt traffic flow on the busway.

Acting Transportation Secretary Giovanni Lopez opposed the MMDA pitch to open the busway for carpooling.

“The busway was designed primarily to move more people, and not more cars, by providing fast and uninterrupted service to buses carrying up to 300,000 passengers daily,” Lopez said.

In a recent interview over “Storycon” on One News, MMDA general manager Nicolas Torre III said the agency is looking at opening the busway to carpooling vehicles, as one of the measures to reduce traffic volume along EDSA. — Elijah Felice Rosales, Christine Boton