Spotlighting Mindanao Ave. Extension project in North Metro Manila

After decades of on-and-off construction activities, the Mindanao Avenue Extension project linking parts of Quezon City, Valenzuela City and Caloocan City in Northern Metro Manila is now open to light or four-wheeled vehicles.

This was announced jointly on Wednesday by Caloocan City Mayor Dale Gonzalo Malapitan and First District Congressman Oscar Malapitan along with Public Safety and Traffic Management Department (PSTMD) Chief Jay Bernardo.

The announcement, written on a piece of tarpaulin placed prominently at the intersection of Mindanao Avenue Extension and General Luis Street in Barangay 166 or Caybiga, Caloocan City, said trucks, illegal parking, and vendors are not allowed along the new road.

According to former Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) Secretary and now Senator Mark Villar, the Mindanao Avenue Extension project was actually started during the time of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. in the 1980s, but its completion took decades because of road right-of-way (ROW) issues.

The construction was resumed earnestly after the DPWH and other concerned government agencies resolved the ROW problems under the "Build Better More" Program of the administration of Marcos’ son, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos (PBBM).

Earlier, the DPWH, the National Housing Authority (NHA) and the Local Inter-Agency Committee of the Caloocan City government had teamed up in carrying out a full-scale demolition of the houses still standing along the ROW for the vital government project in Sitio Gitna, Caybiga.

The DPWH-NHA demolition teams were assisted by elements of the Northern Police District (NPD) from the adjacent cities of Caloocan, Malabon, Navotas and Valenzuela (Camanava). NHA officials said the affected families qualified for financial assistance and housing from the NHA were relocated to Barangay Camarin, also in North Caloocan.

Caybiga Barangay Chairwoman Nena Gregorio said the opening of the new road will ease the daily traffic problem along General Luis Street from Valenzuela City to Novaliches and vice versa.

This is because light vehicles coming from Valenzuela bound for Quezon City areas like Cubao, Balintawak, the University of the Philippines or the Batasang Pambansa can now turn right to Mindanao Avenue Extension instead of going straight to Novaliches.

Likewise, light vehicles from Novaliches bound for Manila and the cities of Caloocan, Valenzuela, Malabon and Navotas or North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) by way of General Luis Street can turn left to Mindanao Avenue Extension upon reaching Barangay Caybiga.

The 2.7-kilometer Mindanao Avenue Extension begins from the vicinity of the Metro Manila Subway Depot Station now under construction in Barangay Ugong, Valenzuela City.

It was designed to decongest the perennial traffic problem being experienced for several years now by motorists and residents in Novaliches and other portions of Northern Metro Manila.

Such an acute traffic problem can best be illustrated by this road sign one who is driving along the Mindanao Avenue-NLEx section from Valenzuela City toward Quezon City would not miss seeing after exiting the toll plaza: "End of Expressway. Reduce Speed Now."

Although not actually written, this can be interpreted as a warning such as: "You are approaching the traffic-prone Novaliches area."

The DPWH said on its website that the main Mindanao Avenue which starts from North Avenue near the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City is an eight-to-10-lane divided avenue connecting Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) and NLEX and is a part of Circumferential Road 5 (C-5) in Metro Manila.

It is one of the three parallel roads that connect Tandang Sora and Congressional Avenues. The other two are Visayas Avenue and Luzon Avenue, that is why the third one has been named Mindanao Avenue after the southernmost mainland of the Philippines, Mindanao.

It used to be a two-kilometer highway connecting North Avenue and Congressional Avenue, but as a part of the C-5 Road project, Mindanao Avenue was extended to EDSA in the south and to Quirino Highway in Novaliches in the north. These additional roads were opened in 2000.

Another road also named Mindanao Avenue begins from Commonwealth Avenue in Barangay Sta. Monica and ends in Barangay Greater Lagro, Novaliches.