Binondo-Intramuros Bridge in Manila. Villar said they will be ready for launch by the end of the year.
Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary Mark A. Villar announced on Thursday that the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge is on track to be completed this year even amid the current pandemic situation.
The DPWH chief said that implementing office DPWH Unified Project Management Office-Roads Management Cluster 1 (UPMO-RMC 1) and contractor China Road and Bridge Corp. have made efforts to speed up work progress to ensure that the P3.39-billion project will be completed by the fourth quarter of the year.
Secretary Villar inspected the project on Thursday, April 15, 2021 and significant progress was observed in the construction of the two-way four-lane bridge, which will soon become a new iconic landscape in the City of Manila.
In his briefing to Secretary Villar, Undersecretary for UPMO Operations Emil K. Sadain explained that as the 70-meter Main Bridge with steel arch and support steel bowstring is being pushed from pier 4 to pier 5, the temporary platforms will be removed after within a two-week period to lower the main bridge to its final position. The project’s overall progress is about 60 percent.
The Binondo-Intramuros Bridge project involves the construction of basket-handle tied steel arch bridge with a total length of 680 lineal meter connecting historic district of Intramuros at Solana Street and Riverside Drive with the bustling district of Binondo at Rentas Street/Plaza del Conde Street and Muelle dela Industria having a viaduct structure over Estero de Binondo.
The design of the arch bridge, which symbolizes the friendly cooperation between Philippines and China, conforms to new seismic design specifications and climate- change considerations.
Design and construction of Binondo-Intramuros Bridge as well as the ongoing Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge in Makati/Mandaluyong are funded by a grant of China and considered first-ever infrastructure partnership project under the present administration between Filipinos and Chinese.
Binondo-Intramuros Bridge is expected to improve the capacity and efficiency of the road transport network in Metro Manila by providing additional fix links and additional routes crossing the Pasig River.
Upon completion, it will carry extra traffic of around 30,000 vehicles per day and ease the traffic congestion between the Binondo and Intramuros. It will also extend the life of existing Jones, Delpan and MacAthur bridges by decongesting traffic, thus reducing bridge maintenance cost requirements.
The project is part of the Metro Manila Logistics Improvement Program to address the long-held dilemma of traffic gridlock in major roads by constructing new bridges crossing Pasig and Marikina Rivers, and Manggahan Floodway.
Other than the Binondo-Intramuros Bridge, DPWH-UPMO Operations targets to deliver the full completion of Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge connecting Makati and Mandaluyong by the third quarter and Sta. Monica-Lawton Bridge, a component of the BGC-Ortigas Center Link Project connecting business districts of Ortigas and Bonifacio Global City.
Image credits: DPWH