DPWH is looking at the construction of three new bridges across the Marikina River

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) has plans to make three new bridges that cross the Markina river. The DPWH has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding between it and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a loan application for the construction of the said bridges. The estimated total cost of the project is said to be more than P9 billion in total.

Two out of the three bridges will be located in Marikina City. These will be the J.P Rizal—Lopez Jaena Bridge and the Marcos Highway—St. Mary Bridge. The last of the three will be the Kabayani—Katipunan Avenue Extension Bridge which will be a connection point between Markina City and Quezon City allowing for faster travel between the two.

The J.P Rizal—Lopez Jaena Bridge is expected to span 687 meters with a 460-meter main bridge. The roadway is expected to cost P1.61 billion. The Marcos Highway—St. Mary Bridge on the other hand will have a total length of 1,477 meters with the main bridge itself spanning 330 meters. For this project, it is estimated to cost P5.74 billion, the most expensive out of the three bridges. The Kabayani—Katipunan Avenue Extension bridge will be 940m long with the main bridge spanning 485m, it is estimated to cost P1.81 billion.

The DPWH has announced that its Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Bridge Management Cluster and the consulting firm Dasan JV are in the process of creating detailed engineering designs for the proposed three bridges. The agency has also stated that the projects are fully supported by the local government units in these areas. While still far from the stages of construction, at least the ADB knows what the DPWH has in store for the city of Marikina. With the addition of these three new bridges, it is hoped that it will give its residents more entry and exit points to and from the city and remove bottlenecks in certain areas.