Pasig River Expressway

Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) is a proposed expressway in Metro Manila, Philippines that will skirt the banks of the Pasig River and connect the City of Manila with the province of Rizal. The expressway is being planned to decongest traffic and to cure the pollution of the Pasig River.

The elevated expressway will span a total of 19.365-km and will have a total of six lanes. The proposed expressway project is intended to start from Radial Road 10 in Manila and will end at a connection to the South East Metro Manila Expressway located at Circumferential Road 6 (C-6). In addition, the road project will also utilize a 2.7-km portion of the Skyway Stage 3 from Nagtahan to Plaza Azul.

Once the road project is finished, PAREX will be made up of three segments. Segment 1 will cover R-10 to Plaza Azul which is around 5.74-km. Then from Plaza Azul, the planned expressway will link up with San Juran River via the Metro Manila Skyway Stage 3 – which will span about 2.7-km. Segment 2, on the other hand, will measure 7.325-km and will see the expressway connect from the San Juan River all the way to C5 Intersection. Finally, Segment 3 will bridge C-5 Intersection with C-6 Intersection and span about 6.3-km.

The expressway will start from Radial Road 10 in Manila and will end at Southeast Metro Manila Expressway in the province of Rizal. There will be three segments, in addition to utilizing the portion of the Skyway Stage 3 from Nagtahan to Plaza Azul in Manila.

The project has an estimated cost of ₱95.413 billion and an estimated implementation period of 36 months. The expressway is believed to provide more benefits, like the cheaper cleanup and pollution prevention to the then polluted Pasig River.

As to who will be on point for the proposed expressway, the Pasig River Expressway will be a joint project agreement between the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) and the San Miguel Holdings Corporation (SMHC).

When will construction begin? Well, the members of the TRB board has already approved of it 'in principle'. However, the building of the project has yet to officially start. Once completed, it will greatly benefit motorists that need to travel between Rizal and Manila, or anywhere else in Luzon for that matter given how PAREX is intended to connect to other expressway projects such as Skyway Stage 3.

Now, the river is considered pretty much dead. If San Miguel Corporation (SMC) gets its way, however, maybe there’s a chance we can see some semblance of life in Pasig River once more.

SMC’s proposed P95-billion Pasig River Expressway, which is currently under government review, includes plans to rehabilitate the body of water as close to its former glory as possible. Besides the project’s 19.4km, six-lane elevated expressway, the development includes the dredging of the river bed to remove “decades of debris and garbage.” This doesn’t just mean a healtheir Pasig River, but a better-flowing one, too.

And remember, a healthier Pasig River is just one of the advantages here. The Pasig River Expressway aims to cut travel time from Manila to Rizal to just 15 minutes and will provide an alternate route to Makati City, Ortigas, and Bonifacio Global City.

The interesting bit is that since they will be building on top of a river, the government shouldn't have problems (theoretically) when securing rights of way. 

So far, we’re like this plan. What do you think of the idea?