EDSA rehabilitation postponed for a month

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced yesterday, Sunday, that the rehabilitation of Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) will be postponed for one month. According to Marcos, the delay will give government agencies time to study measures that could lessen the impact of the P8.7 billion rehabilitation project on the public.

Following the suspension, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) announced on the same day that it had decided to cancel the planned implementation of the controversial odd-even scheme on EDSA this month. The MMDA will continue to enforce the usual number coding scheme instead.

The odd-even scheme was planned to temporarily replace the existing Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), or number coding, specifically along EDSA during the rehabilitation period. Under the scheme, vehicles with license plates ending in odd numbers (1, 3, 5, 7, and 9) would be prohibited from using EDSA on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Meanwhile, those with even-numbered plates (ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8) would be barred on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

The EDSA rehabilitation was initially scheduled to begin on June 13, starting with the segment from Pasay City to Shaw Boulevard, and was expected to continue until 2027. Planned works include concrete reblocking and asphalt resurfacing on damaged sections, road widening, sidewalk enhancements, drainage system upgrades, improved lighting and signage, as well as maintenance of bridges and flyovers.

If you were hoping for a reprieve from the recently reimplemented No Contact Apprehension Policy (NCAP), it's business as usual. While the EDSA rehabilitation and the odd-even scheme are suspended for one month, the implementation of NCAP will continue as planned. 

For now, these are all the updates regarding the planned EDSA rehabilitation. While the one-month delay means we won’t have to deal with changes to our EDSA commute just yet, it doesn’t change the fact that commuters should still brace for heavy traffic in the foreseeable future.