MMDA Opens EDSA-McKinley Service Road to Two-Way Traffic

Starting Monday, February 20, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) opens the EDSA-McKinley Road to two-way vehicular traffic. The government agency said that the initiative should help ease traffic congestion in the area, which is located in the country’s main commercial business district.

Previously one-way, private vehicles coming from McKinley are now allowed to turn right going to EDSA northbound. Meanwhile, private vehicles on EDSA northbound will also be allowed to use the McKinley access road to get to Bonifacio Global City (BGC).

Private and public utility vehicles get to benefit

Public utility vehicles (PUVs) including jeepneys, taxis and buses bound for Ayala and BGC may also load in the area. The MMDA will allow a maximum of three jeepneys at a time at the loading bay on the side of the corner Shell gas station to load passengers. Before arriving at the station though, PUJs must first unload their passengers at the adjacent BGC bus terminal. Drivers must then wait for their turn to queue at the loading bay. Private vehicles may use the other lane to bypass the EDSA-McKinley intersection.

Before the rerouting, jeepney drivers were only permitted to use the EDSA-McKinley Access Road as a loading bay. MMDA predicts that around 120 jeepneys operating in the area will be affected by the new routing scheme. The agency also estimates that 1,000 vehicles per hour can benefit from the opening of the service road, especially those who have to pass by the EDSA-Ayala intersection stoplight.

MMDA will also stop allowing jeepneys from Magsaysay Avenue to pass through EDSA. Jeepney drivers plying this route will instead be routed through P. Burgos St., where they can turn left on P. Victor St. toward Guadalupe Ilalim.

Ayala and BGC traffic enforcers set for deputization

The MMDA-Traffic Engineering Center (TEC) said it sent a request to the management of both Ayala and BGC business districts to let their private traffic personnel undergo MMDA training and be deputized by the agency to make them more effective enforcers.

The implementation follows the successful test run that MMDA conducted last Saturday, February 18. The MMDA also conducted a similar traffic rerouting scheme for jeepneys in the EDSA-Guadalupe area, which prevents said vehicles from crossing EDSA.

MMDA General Manager Tim Orbos has expressed gratitude to the Ayala group, which owns the private access road, for their cooperation and support in solving the traffic problem in the area.

“I am also thankful to the jeepney operators and drivers who readily agreed to this scheme,” Orbos added.