EDSA (road)

Epifanio de los Santos Avenue
EDSA
Highway 54

EDSA, where it crosses Quezon Avenue.
Route information
Maintained by Metro Manila Development Authority and Department of Public Works and Highways (Philippines)
Length: 23.8 km (14.8 mi)
includes extension in Bay City, Pasay
Existed: 1940 (1940) – present
Component
highways:
Restrictions: No heavy trucks on whole of EDSA.
Major junctions
Beltway around Manila
South end: SM Mall of Asia Rotunda in Bay City, Pasay, 14°32′6.24″N 120°58′55.75″E / 14.5350667°N 120.9821528°E / 14.5350667; 120.9821528
  At Pasay:
R-1 Roxas Boulevard
R-2 Taft Avenue
At Makati:
R-3 Osmeňa Highway
Arnaiz Avenue
Ayala Avenue/McKinley Road
Gil Puyat Avenue
R-4 Kalayaan Avenue
J.P. Rizal Avenue
At Mandaluyong:
Boni Avenue/Pioneer Road
R-5 Shaw Boulevard
Ortigas Avenue
At Quezon City:
White Plains Avenue
R-6 Aurora Boulevard
Timog Avenue/East Avenue
R-7 Quezon Avenue
North Avenue/West Avenue
Congressional Avenue/Roosevelt Avenue
R-8 Andres Bonifacio Avenue
North end: Monumento Roundabout in Grace Park, Caloocan, 14°39′14.74″N 120°59′02.06″E / 14.6540944°N 120.9839056°E / 14.6540944; 120.9839056
Location
Major cities: Caloocan, Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati, Pasay
Highway system
Highways in the Philippines

Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Filipino: Abenida Epifanio de los Santos), commonly referred to by its acronym EDSA, is a limited-access circumferential freeway around Manila, the capital of the Philippines. It is the main thoroughfare in Metro Manila passing through 6 of the capital region's 17 local government units, namely, from north to south, Caloocan, Quezon City, San Juan, Mandaluyong, Makati and Pasay.[1] The road links the North Luzon Expressway in Balintawak in the north to the South Luzon Expressway at the Magallanes Interchange in the south, as well as the major financial districts of Makati Central Business District, Ortigas Center and Araneta Center. It is the longest and the most congested highway in the metropolis, stretching some 23.8 kilometres (14.8 mi).

Structure

The route of EDSA in Metro Manila.

The entire road itself is a part of the Circumferential Road 4 system, a network of roads and bridges that acts as the fourth beltway for the City of Manila. The locations around the avenue were marked with great economic and industrial growth, proven by the fact that all but 2 industrial centers in the Metropolis are directly accessible from the thoroughfare. The decent economic growth of the areas around the avenue adds a significant volume of traffic on the avenue, and in recent estimates, EDSA handles an average of 316,345 cars daily,[2] and an average of 2.34 million vehicles go through EDSA every day.[3]

EDSA is a divided carriageway, often consisting of 12 lanes, 6 in either direction, with the elevated railroad Manila Metro Rail Transit System often serving as its median. EDSA is not an expressway, but traffic rules and speed limits are strictly implemented to the vehicles that pass along it. It is operated by the Metro Manila Development Authority and is maintained and constantly being repaired by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Route description

EDSA starts from the Andres Bonifacio Monument (Monumento) Roundabout in Gracepark, Caloocan, adjacent to the Apolonio Samson Road, the western side of the C-4 Road. The roundabout is also the marker of the 1896 Revolution by Andres Bonifacio. The 1.7 kilometers of the road are in Caloocan. The Avenue will then enter Quezon City through the Balintawak District, after an intersection with the North Luzon Expressway in the Balintawak Cloverleaf Interchange.

An Interchange between EDSA and the South Luzon Expressway
EDSA in Guadalupe, Makati

EDSA crosses much of the northern part of Quezon City, passing through the Project 6 and Muñoz districts. It sharply curves southwards after crossing the North Avenue-West Avenue Intersection in the Triangle Business Park. On the north side of EDSA is the SM North EDSA. In front of it is the TriNoma mall and the Eton Centris or Centris Walk. ABS-CBN and its transmitter can be easily seen from EDSA and continues southwards, slightly turning westwards slowly until it leaves the Triangle Park after crossing the East Avenue-Timog Avenue Intersection, where the GMA-7 building is located. It continues through the district of Cubao, entering the Araneta Center after crossing the Aurora Boulevard Tunnel. In Cubao, several malls, infrastructure and offices are located, most notably the Smart Araneta Coliseum, the biggest coliseum in Southeast Asia. The Avenue curves southwards and enters the Santolan and Socorro districts, where the twin military bases of Camp Rafael Crame and Camp Aguinaldo, are located. The Greenhills Shopping Center and the Eastwood City are also located nearby. EDSA then continues on its route and serves as the boundary of the cities of San Juan and Quezon City. The People Power Monument can be seen on the north side of EDSA in the White Plains Avenue junction. After the 11 kilometers of EDSA in Quezon City, the Avenue will eventually leave the city and enter the City of Mandaluyong. EDSA enters Mandaluyong after crossing the borders of the Ortigas Center. In the Ortigas Center, some notable buildings around the area are the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration building, Robinsons Galleria, SM Megamall, Forum Robinsons (Robinsons Pioneer), and the bronze EDSA Shrine, a memorial church to the 1986 Revolution. It then curves smoothly westwards after it crosses the Pioneer Street, and crosses the Pasig River via the Guadalupe Bridge and leaving the City of Mandaluyong.

It enters the city of Makati after crossing the Pasig River, passing through the districts of Guadalupe, Comembo and Magallanes. In Guadalupe, EDSA provides access to the Rockwell Center, a major mixed-use business park in Makati. The highway also provides quick access to the city of Taguig and the Bonifacio Global City nearby. After crossing Buendia Avenue, the highway enters the Ayala Center, an important industrial district in the Philippines, where the Greenbelt and Glorietta shopping centers are located. The road then curves eastwards and continues on a straight route to the city of Pasay.

EDSA enters Pasay shortly after crossing the South Luzon Expressway in Makati. In Pasay, the highway provides access to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport via a flyover. EDSA enters the Baclaran Shopping Center and continues eastward until it enters the Bay City reclamation area, where the large SM Mall of Asia is located. EDSA's terminus is at a rotunda in front of the Globe of the SM Mall of Asia.

Traffic management

The lead agency that manages the flow of traffic along EDSA is the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), an agency that is under the Office of the President and is advised by the Metro Manila Mayors League. One of the MMDA's traffic management schemes that is in effect on EDSA, among other major thoroughfares in the metropolis, is the Uniform Vehicular Volume Reduction Program.

Many have observed that the cause of many traffic jams on EDSA are erring buses and jeepneys. Subsequently, buses have been the target of other traffic management programs, like the MMDA's Organized Bus Route Program.[4] The MMDA is strictly implementing also the Motorcycle and Bus laning in EDSA, making it the second freeway in the Philippines ever to have such traffic rule to be enforced, after Commonwealth Avenue.[3][5] The average speed of vehicles in EDSA is 15 kilometres per hour (9.3 mph).

From January 18, 2016, strict implementation on bus lanes started on the Shaw-Guadalupe segment, where plastic barriers are placed and prohibited entry of private vehicles and taxis on the bus lanes except when turning to EDSA's side streets.[6] Despite the plastic barrier, many private vehicles still enter the lanes.[6]

History

Epifanio de los Santos y Cristóbal, the Philippine historian after whom EDSA was named

Construction of what was then called the "North-South Circumferential Road" started in the 1930s, during the term of the President Manuel L. Quezon, with the construction team led by engineers Florencio Moreno and Osmundo Monsod.[1]

The road, starting from the North Diversion Road (today the North Luzon Expressway) and ending at the current Magallanes Interchange with the South Luzon Expressway, was finished in 1940, shortly before World War II and the subsequent Japanese occupation of the Philippines. After the independence of the Philippines in 1946, the road was renamed Avenida 19 de Junio (June 19 Avenue), after the birth date of national hero José Rizal.[1]

In the 1950s, the avenue had been renamed Highway 54, because of the common misconception on that time that the avenue is 54 km long.[1] Rizalists wanted the avenue's name to be kept as 19 de Junio, while President Ramon Magsaysay wanted the avenue be named after Rizal. Rizal Province residents, however, wanted the avenue to be named after a Rizaleño, a historian, jurist and scholar named Epifanio de los Santos y Cristóbal. The Philippine Historical Committee (now the National Historical Commission of the Philippines), the Philippine Historical Association, the Philippine Library Association, Association of University and College Professors, the Philippine China Cultural Association, and the Philippine National Historical Society, led by fellow Rizaleños Eulogio Rodriguez Sr. and Juan Sumulong, supported the renaming of Highway 54 to Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

On April 7, 1959, de los Santos' birthday, Republic Act No. 2140 was passed, renaming the avenue to honor him.[7] Rapid urbanization in the 1960s and 1970s, particularly during the annexation of several Rizal towns to the newly formed National Capital Region, marked the growth of the industrial centers along the road, and several other roads connected to the avenue, such as Ayala Avenue and the McKinley Road in Makati.

During the tenure of President Ferdinand Marcos, traffic jams in the avenue started to build up. Several interchanges were constructed to relieve congestion, including the Balintawak Cloverleaf and the Magallanes Interchange at the ends of the avenue. Later, with the implementation of the Metro Manila Arterial Road System in 1965, in order to complete the Circumferential Road 4 system, EDSA was extended to Taft Avenue from the South Luzon Expressway (the extension was called F. Rein Avenue), and further to Roxas Boulevard (the extension was called P. Lovina Avenue). EDSA was also extended from its original Balintawak terminus to the Apolonio Samson Road at the site of the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan, completing the Circumferential Road 4 system. Through all these up until the mid-80s many parts of the roadway still overlooked vast grasslands and open fields.

The EDSA Revolution

In 1986, Philippine president Ferdinand E. Marcos's political opponents revolted against his 20-year dictatorial government, seizing the Camp Rafael Crame and Camp Aguinaldo military bases, both located along EDSA situated in between a currently cited wealthy subdivision named the Corinthian Gardens, and two commercial districts of the metropolitan, one at the entrance of Quezon City and Ortigas in Mandaluyong. On February 25, 1986, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue gained worldwide attention as the site of the peaceful People Power Revolution that toppled President Marcos, led by Corazon Aquino. The majority of the demonstrations took place on a long stretch of the avenue, involving over two million Filipino civilians including as well as several known political, military, and religious groups led by Cardinal Jaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila.

Monuments

The site of the change of history marked a stand for historical monuments found in the site that occurred. The landmark of this history begins at the entrance of Mandaluyong with very tall statue of Mary (mother of Jesus Christ) coated with golden color of paint mixed with bronze stones, spanning along EDSA, a monument of a giant steel metal formed with hundreds of people standing upon a circular podium-like pyramid with a nun at the center reaching up to the heavens found leading to the gates of the Corinthian Gardens. The main venue of the revolution was supposed to destroy the camps leaving a peaceful note of painting the longest mural in the Philippines with a length of 2.4 kilometers on the high 8 feet walls of the camps along EDSA displaying a symbol of a vow, peace and harmony.

Recent history

After the People Power Revolution, the avenue had been commonly known as EDSA, and the southern extensions were merged into the avenue. In 1997, the Manila Metro Rail Transit System began construction, being built over EDSA from North Avenue to Taft Avenue during the presidency of Joseph Estrada.[8][9]

In 2006, the avenue was further extended from Roxas Boulevard to the SM Mall of Asia, where it now ends at the Mall of Asia Globe and roundabout. Also, in 2006, the avenue was badly damaged in September, when Typhoon Milenyo hit Manila.

In 2010, the Manila LRT Line 1 (LRT-1) of the Manila Light Rail Transit System was extended from Monumento to Roosevelt, ultimately transversing EDSA to end at the site of the current North Avenue MRT Station.

In August 2012, prior to the Congressional hearing of a controversial reproductive health bill proposal, the Catholic Church assembled a mass rally on EDSA to show opposition to the proposal.[10]

On February 25, 2015, a protest rally calling for the resignation of President Benigno Aquino III took place on EDSA where thousands of people from various socio-civic, political and religious groups were involved. The protest rally only remained until the EDSA-Santolan area because of police barricades that prevented the protesters from going near the People Power Monument.[11][12]

On September 9, 2015, the Philippine National Police (PNP) deployed the Highway Patrol Group on EDSA to control the heavy traffic congestion along with MMDA traffic constables on EDSA's congested segments.[13]

Exits and major intersections

Kilometers, based on numbers found on yellow kilometer stones along the road, count clockwise from kilometer 9, near the Bonifacio Monument. Rizal Park is used as Kilometer Zero. The section west of Roxas Boulevard towards SM Mall of Asia is not included on the official count, since they are not original parts of EDSA.

Epifanio De los Santos Avenue (C-4)
Kilometer Mile Northbound exits (B carriageway) Junction Southbound exits (A carriageway)
9.06 5.63 Grace Park, Caloocan, Valenzuela MacArthur Highway (North R-9) and Rizal Avenue (South R-9)
[coord 1]		 City of Manila
10.76 6.69 Valenzuela; Novaliches, Quezon City; North Luzon Expressway R-8 A A. Bonifacio Avenue R-8 and North Luzon Expressway R-8 A Manila; A. Bonifacio Avenue R-8
10.76 6.69 Novaliches, Quezon City; San Jose del Monte, Bulacan Quirino Highway R-8 B Manila; A. Bonifacio Avenue R-8
11.92 7.41 Tandang Sora, Quezon City; Kaingin Road Kaingin Road and Howmart Road Gregorio Araneta Avenue C-3, La Loma, and Roxas, Quezon City
12.86 7.99 Muñoz, and Tandang Sora, Quezon City Roosevelt Avenue (South) and Congressional Avenue (North) Pantranco, and Tatalon, Quezon City
13 8.7 SM City North EDSA; TriNoma Mall; North Triangle of the Triangle Park North Avenue (North) and West Avenue (South)
[coord 2]		 San Francisco del Monte, Quezon City
13 8.7 Northern Circumferential Road 5 C-5 Mindanao Avenue (North)
15.48 9.62 Quezon Memorial Circle, Commonwealth Avenue, Commonwealth and Batasan Hills, Quezon City Quezon Avenue R-7 Welcome Rotonda; España Boulevard; Sampaloc, and Quiapo, Manila
Kamuning Flyover starts
16.95 10.54 East Avenue Medical Center; East Triangle, Triangle Park; Central Bank of the Philippines East Avenue (South) and Timog Avenue (North) GMA Network Center; South Triangle, Triangle Park
17.23 10.7 Kamuning, Quezon City Kamuning Road (North), Kamias Road (South) New Manila, Quezon City
Kamuning Flyover ends
18.35 1.4 Araneta Center; Cubao, Quezon City; Marikina; Antipolo; Taytay, Rizal (via Marikina–Infanta Highway) Aurora Boulevard R-6 [coord 3] Santa Mesa, Manila; Polytechnic University of the Philippines
11.79 18.97 Araneta Center, Circumferential Road 5 Pedro Tuazon Boulevard New Manila, Quezon City
19.65 12.21 Circumferential Road 5 C-5; Camp Aguinaldo Headquarters; Eastwood City Bonny Serrano Avenue Santolan, Quezon City
20.21 12.56 No access Annapolis Road and Connecticut Street (South) Greenhills Shopping Center, San Juan
21 13.05 Katipunan Avenue White Plains Avenue (North) No access
21.72 13.49 Ortigas Center, Antipolo, Taytay, Rizal Ortigas Avenue [coord 4] Greenhills Shopping Center; San Juan
22.75 14.14 SM Megamall; Ortigas Center Julia Vargas Avenue (North) [coord 5] No access
23.15 14.39 Ortigas Center; Pasig; Taytay, Rizal Shaw Boulevard R-5 Santa Mesa, and Paco, Manila
24.35 15.13 Ortigas Center Boni Avenue (South) and Pioneer Street (North) San Juan; Forum Robinsons
EDSA crosses the Pasig River via the Guadalupe Bridge
24.87 15.46 Guadalupe Viejo, Makati; Circumferential Road 5 C-5 J.P. Rizal Avenue Guadalupe Nuevo District; Rockwell Center
25.96 16.13 Rockwell Center Estrella Street (Southbound) Rockwell Center
Kalayaan Flyover from SB EDSA elevates, leading to 32nd Street
Kalayaan Flyover from Gil Puyat Avenue elevates, leading to 32nd Street
26.35-26.73 16.37-16.64 Santa Ana, Manila Kalayaan Avenue R-4 Bonifacio Global City; Circumferential Road 5 C-5; Rizal
No access Gil Puyat Avenue (Buendia Avenue) (Southbound) Circumferential Road 3 C-3
Ayala Underpass starts
27.58-28.05 17.14-17.43 Ayala Center; Gil Puyat Avenue/Circumferential Road 3 C-3 Ayala Avenue (Southbound) and McKinley Road (Northbound) Bonifacio Global City
Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road) SM Makati
Ayala Center
29.14-29.32 18.11-18.22 Lawton Avenue
Bonifacio Global City		 Chino Roces Avenue (Pasong Tamo) Ayala Center; Santa Ana, Manila
Alabang; Laguna; Cavite Sergio Osmeña Highway R-3 Manila
Magallanes, Makati
30.8 19.14 NAIA Terminal 3 Tramo Street (Aurora Boulevard) (Northbound) NAIA Terminal 3 (via a flyover)
31.09 19.32 Cavite; Baclaran, Parañaque Taft Avenue R-2 Ermita, and Malate, Manila (no access from Northbound)
31.62 19.65 Cavite; Baclaran, Parañaque Harrison Avenue (Southbound) and Elpidio Quirino Avenue (Northbound) Ermita, and Malate, City of Manila
31.92 19.87 CAVITEX/Coastal Road; Cavite; Baclaran, Parañaque Roxas Boulevard R-1 Rizal Park, Ermita, and Malate, Manila
? ? Bay City Macapagal Boulevard Cavite (via CAVITEX/Coastal Road)
? ? Jose Diokno Boulevard; SM Mall of Asia Globe Rotunda Jose Diokno Boulevard; SM Mall of Asia
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Future developments

Proposed interchanges

An overpass over the North Avenue-West Avenue Intersection and Mindanao Avenue Junction in the Triangle Park and a Flyover over Congressional Avenue and Roosevelt Avenue Intersection in Munoz are already approved, and may start construction in 2013.[14]

Proposed renaming

In 2011, Bohol Representative Rene Lopez Relampagos filed House Bill (HB) No. 5422, proposing to rename Epifanio de los Santos Avenue as "Corazon Aquino Avenue." The proposal is currently pending in the Philippine House of Representatives before the House Committee on Public Works and Highways. According to Relampagos, the idea to rename EDSA after Aquino (who led the 1986 People Power) was conceptualized in the aftermath of her death.

Construction of Edsa-Taft flyover

On April 2, 2013, President Noynoy Aquino gave the green light for the construction of a flyover at the perennially traffic-choked corner of Edsa and Taft Avenue in Metro Manila.[15]

The project is estimated to cost P2.8 billion, with the flyover extending to about 1.4 kilometers each side and it will take one and a half years to complete the project.[15]

Barrier-separated bus lanes

After stricter implementation of bus lanes and barrier separation through plastic barriers, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) will start to replace the orange barriers with a concrete permanent barrier used to separate the bus lanes from private vehicle lanes. [16]

In popular culture

EDSA is featured in the film The Bourne Legacy. Portions of the road from Magallanes Interchange to Taft Avenue were featured in a car chase wherein Aaron Cross, played by Jeremy Renner, jumps from the Taft Avenue footbridge to a plying bus.[17][18] Also, every February 25, the day of the EDSA People Power Revolution, the statues in the People Power Monument in the White Plains junction were repainted and yellow flags were placed on their hands, in order to commemorate the successful revolution.[19]

EDSA is also continuously being used in political campaigns by several politicians, particularly those who had been involved in the EDSA Revolution such as Joseph Estrada and Benigno Aquino III.

Gallery

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Peter Uckung (February 22, 2012). "History in Asphalt (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa) is the longest road in Metro Manila. Peter Uckung, senior researcher at the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), explains how this thoroughfare came to be.)". Business world Online. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  2. ↑ Philippine Daily Inquirer (July 7, 2009). "Inquirer Headlines: EDSA". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Jao-Grey, Margarte (December 27, 2007). "Too Many Buses, Too Many Agencies Clog Edsa". Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. Retrieved December 28, 2007.
  4. ↑ MMDA Resolution No. 03-28
  5. ↑ MMDA Resolution No. 04-01
  6. 1 2 Zarzuela, Maricar B. (January 12, 2016). "Private cars can't enter Edsa bus lanes starting Jan. 18". Inquirer.net. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
  7. ↑ Chan Robles Virtual Law Library - REPUBLIC ACT NO. 2140 - AN ACT CHANGING THE NAME OF HIGHWAY 54 IN THE PROVINCE OF RIZAL TO EPIFANIO DE LOS SANTOS AVENUE IN HONOR OF DON EPIFANIO DE LOS SANTOS, A FILIPINO SCHOLAR, JURIST AND HISTORIAN
  8. ↑ GMA Launches transit system, Philippine Star, July 15, 2003
  9. ↑ NUMBER OF MOTOR VEHICLES REGISTERED: Comparative, JAN.- DEC. 2003, 2004, 2005, Land Transportation Office, January 23, 2006
  10. ↑ ABS-CBN (August 3, 2012). "Church eyes red revolution vs RH Bill". Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Thousands of people march along EDSA to call for the resignation of President Aquino on the 29th anniversary of the People Power Revolution". imgur. Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  12. ↑ "FACE-OFF. Thousands of protesters face hundreds of cops blocking EDSA-Santolan.". Retrieved February 25, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Can the police fix EDSA traffic?.". Rappler. Retrieved December 5, 2015.
  14. ↑ "DPWH Future PP Projects" (PDF). Department of Public Works and Highways (Philippines). Retrieved December 15, 2012.
  15. 1 2 http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/383789/aquino-approves-construction-of-edsa-taft-flyover
  16. ↑ Brizuela, Maricar B. (January 26, 2016). "Edsa lane rule: 130 fined: barriers to be 'permanent'". Motioncars at Inquirer.net. Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 5 February 2016. Meanwhile, MMDA Traffic Engineering chief Neomie Recio also announced that the plastic barriers currently used to separate lanes would soon be replaced with more permanent, concrete separators to be provided by the DPWH.
  17. ↑ "'Bourne Legacy' shoot at EDSA-Taft then Palawan". Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  18. ↑ GMA News Online (January 27, 2012). "'Bourne Legacy' to shoot on EDSA in Pasay, some roads closed". GMA News. Retrieved August 25, 2012.
  19. ↑ "iReport EDSA 20th Anniversary Special Issue | Dr. William Castro". Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, February 2006. Retrieved 2008-01-16.
Coordinate list
  1. ↑ 14°39′14.74″N 120°59′02.06″E / 14.6540944°N 120.9839056°E Andres Bonifacio Monument Roundabout
  2. ↑ 14°39′25″N 121°01′50″E / 14.657026°N 121.030481°E SM City North EDSA
  3. ↑ 14°37′15″N 121°03′12″E / 14.6207°N 121.0532°E Araneta Center
  4. ↑ 14°35′00″N 121°03′40″E / 14.58333°N 121.06111°E EDSA-Corinthian
  5. ↑ 14°35′04.01″N 121°03′24.38″E / 14.5844472°N 121.0567722°E SM Megamall

External links

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