Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar announced on Tuesday that the Skyway Stage 3 project will formally open on January 14.
“Skyway Stage 3 is a critical component of the EDSA Decongestion Project — a masterplan composed of 25 projects. When the project is fully opened in January 14, at least 55,000 vehicles is expected to be diverted from EDSA, C5, and other major thoroughfares,” Villar said.
San Miguel Corporation earlier announced that motorists can use the Skyway Stage 3 for free for one month beginning today.
“Soon, travel time from NLEX to SLEX will be reduced from two hours to only 30 minutes. Makati to Quezon City will only be 20 minutes away,” he added.
Skyway is an 18-kilometer elevated expressway spanning from Buendia in Makati to NLEX in Balintawak, Quezon City.
Villar said that there will be seven available ramps along the expressway such as the Buendia Northbound On Ramp and Southbound Off Ramp, Plaza Dilao Southbound On Ramp, Quezon Avenue Northbound and Southbound On and Off Ramp, and Balintawak Northbound Off Ramp and Southbound On Ramp.
“The Skyway Stage 3 project will eventually connect to the NLEX Harbor Link, which opened this year, via the NLEX SLEX Connector in 2021,” Villar noted.
“We are confident that by 2022, every city in Metro Manila will be accessible in a 20 to 30 timeframe,” he added.
The NLEX-SLEX Connector is an eight-kilometer elevated four lane toll expressway that traverses the NLEX southbound route from the end of Segment 10 along C3 road in Caloocan to Polytechnic University of the Philippines in Sta. Mesa, Manila.
It is expected to divert at least 35,000 motorists every day from EDSA and C5.