President Rodrigo Roa Duterte inaugurated Thursday, January 14, 2021 the 18-kilometer Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 from Buendia, Makati City to Balintawak, Quezon City that connected the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).
Together with the President at the opening ceremony of the elevated expressway built under the Build, Build, Build Program are Department of Public Works and Secretary Mark A. Villar and San Miguel Corporation (SMC) President Ramon S. Ang.
The ceremony was also attended by Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” T. Go, House Speaker Lord Allan Q. Velasco, Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea, and Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.
By connecting NLEX to SLEX, travel time will be reduced from two (2) hours to only 30 minutes while Makati to Quezon City can be reached in 20 minutes as the new expressway redirects as much as 55,000 motorists from the congested EDSA traffic daily.
“Today, the President delivers on his promise to decongest EDSA. This is just one of 25 projects which we will complete under the EDSA Decongestion Program” added Secretary Villar.
"When we assumed office in 2016, the congestion level was at 71% — the second worst traffic congestion in the world. We were losing 3.5 billion a day due to traffic in Metro Manila. This will no longer be the case in 2022 due to the President's political will.
DPWH had to relocate 47 National Grid Corporation Poles and 1,312 Meralco poles to realize this project. Prior to May 2017, Only 8.64% of right of way needed for the entire alignment has been acquired.
The original alignment of Skyway Stage 3 was realigned to follow the San Juan River alignment in October 2018. The original alignment was deemed not feasible.
Secretary Villar also acknowledged the concessionaire, Citra Central Expressway Corporation for partnering with the government in realizing the vision of better Philippines through infrastructure development.
The Skyway Stage 3 project has seven (7) available ramps located along 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.
A total of P44.66 billion funded under the Public-Private Partnership Program was allotted for the completion of the elevated expressway expected to boost development outside Metro Manila through the seamless road network.