Skyway (Metro Manila)


The Skyway, officially the Metro Manila Skyway System or Metro Manila Skyway, is an elevated highway serving as the main expressway in southern Metro Manila, Philippines, following much of the existing South Luzon Expressway's alignment by going above it. It stretches from Gil Puyat Avenue in the north to Alabang–Zapote Road in the south and crosses through the highly urbanized areas of Makati, Pasay, Taguig, Parañaque, and Muntinlupa, relieving SLEx and other major thoroughfares from heavy traffic.
The expressway is the first fully grade-separated highway in the Philippines. It will be one of the longest flyovers in the world with a total length of when Stage 3 and the Extension Project in Muntinlupa are completed. It provides access to Ninoy Aquino International Airport via NAIA Expressway. With the completion of the Skyway Extension Stage 3 scheduled in 2020, the elevated expressway will connect to the North Luzon Expressway in Caloocan and help cut the travel time between Metro Manila and Clark International Airport in Pampanga.
With the opening of the Skyway system, traffic at the South Luzon Expressway considerably improved with the additional roadway capacity, rehabilitated roads, upgraded and newly constructed facilities.

Route description

From the north, the Skyway originally begins in Makati, just south of Gil Puyat Avenue. It rises above the Magallanes Interchange and returns to its original level after crossing EDSA. Past its interchange with the NAIA Expressway, it descends into ground level because of height restrictions on structures near Ninoy Aquino International Airport, paralleling SLEX and the PNR Metro South Commuter Line along the Pasay–Taguig boundary. The Skyway elevates again past the C-5 Exit and Arca South. From Bicutan, at the start of the Stage 2 segment, it continuously runs above SLEX. At the Sucat Exit, the Skyway rises above the eastern end of Dr. Santos Avenue and descends before approaching the Alabang toll plaza in Cupang, Muntinlupa. An exit leads down to the South Luzon Expressway and an entrance ramp carries traffic vice versa. Past the toll plaza and the exit to SLEX, the Skyway narrows into one lane per direction, and curves westward before joining Alabang–Zapote Road near South Station in Alabang.
Stage 3, presently under construction, is divided into five sections. Section 1 begins at the Buendia Exit and runs northwards along Osmeña Highway, veers right to Quirino Avenue and ends at Tomas Claudio Street. Section 2 then veers right again through the private San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corporation plant in Pandacan, Manila, follows the curve of the San Juan River and connects to Gregorio Araneta Avenue near Santa Mesa, Manila. Past the Aurora Boulevard intersection, Section 3 moves further northwards along Araneta until it reaches Quezon Avenue, where Section 4 continues, veers left to Sgt. Rivera Avenue, turns right at A. Bonifacio Avenue towards the Balintawak Interchange at EDSA. Section 5 starts from there, crosses over EDSA and Quirino Highway, and finally connects to NLEX, ending near the Balintawak Toll Plaza. Stage 3 will have a total length of.

History

In November 1995, the Jakarta-based investor Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada entered into a Supplemental Toll Operation Agreement with the Republic of the Philippines through the Toll Regulatory Board as grantor, and the Philippine National Construction Corporation as operator. It was the result of negotiations that began on October 31, 1994 with the organization of the Technical Working Group composed of representatives from the Board of Investments, the Department of Finance, AIA Capital as financial adviser, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the TRB, the PNCC, and the PT CITRA Group. Under the STOA, Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation, was mandated to finance, design, and construct stage 1 of the South Metro Manila Tollway Project, consisting of an elevated expressway from Bicutan to Buendia and the rehabilitation of the at-grade portion of the South Metro Manila Tollway project. The STOA was approved by Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos in April 1996.

Stage 1

Stage 1 involved the rehabilitation of the at-grade portion of SLEX from Magallanes to Alabang and the construction of a 6-lane, elevated expressway above it, from Buendia to Bicutan. Stage 1 started on April 7, 1995 and partially opened to motorists in October 1999. Buendia, Makati, Magallanes, Skyway Toll Plazas A and B, and Bicutan Exits were first to be completed in December 1997. The Don Bosco Exit was completed in January 2002, while the NAIA Terminal 3 interchange was in construction between 2004 and 2010. CMMTC spent $32.7 million on Stage 1 with a length of.

Stage 2

On April 2, 2009, Citra announced the construction on the second stage. By June 2009, new pillars were going up. By May 2010, Stage 2 was 50% done, rotating the highest pierhead in the Sucat area; by July it was 65% done, concreting 134 of the required 238 spans, and started pouring the asphalt overlay. On December 15, 2010, the Bicutan–Sucat portion of Stage 2 opened to the public. Motorists could use this portion for free before the Skyway reverted its toll rates back to its 2007 levels a week later. In April 2011, the Hillsborough Exit, the Alabang Toll Plaza, and the South Station Exit were opened to the public toll-free until April 25. Stage 2 extended the toll road by about from Bicutan to Alabang.

Operation and maintenance

The rehabilitated at-grade portion of the South Luzon Expressway from Nichols to Alabang and the Metro Manila Skyway System are both operated by the Skyway Operations and Maintenance Corporation, a company of the existing PNCC concession holder, and Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation. SOMCo took over the operations and maintenance of the Skyway from the former operator, PNCC Skyway Corporation, effective January 2008 and was established in compliance with the provisions stipulated in the July 2007 Amended Supplemental Toll Operators Agreement between the PNCC, Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation, and the Toll Regulatory Board, which awarded the management of the 35-kilometer toll road to Citra. Skyway used the using Vendeka toll collection system. SOMCo is in charge of the three major operational functions of the Skyway: traffic safety and management, maintenance, and toll collection.

Technical specifications

Stage 3

Dubbed as "Skyway Stage 3", the Department of Public Works and Highways had received an unsolicited proposal for the construction of the elevated toll road Skyway's extension from San Miguel Corporation-backed Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. which according to their proposal would run from Bicutan, Taguig to Balintawak, Quezon City. The DPWH included the project in its PPP thrust and subjected the proposal to a Swiss Challenge, a procedure that requires a government agency which has received an unsolicited bid for a project to publish the bid and invite third parties to match or exceed it.
Construction of Skyway Stage 3 started on February 17, 2014. However, construction delays and right-of-way issues has rescheduled its target completion date to 2020.
The original plans called for the project to be divided into four segments. The original alignment would consist of Zamora flyover, crossing the Pasig River, meeting up with the NLEX-SLEX Connector near the PUP campus, and passing through Old Santa Mesa Road and V. Mapa Street. However, due to right-of-way issues, the alignment was forced to be realigned, veering right from Tomas Claudio Street through the San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corporation plastic plant in Pandacan, and follow the San Juan River up to Gregorio Araneta Avenue. A second modification of the plans added a fifth segment at the north end of the project. Instead of ending at the Balintawak Cloverleaf at EDSA, Segment 5 would cross over EDSA and Quirino Highway's Camachile and Old Novaliches Flyovers and ultimately connect to the Balintawak Toll Plaza of North Luzon Expressway in Caloocan, bringing the entire Stage 3 segment to long. This new segment opens a new possibility of further expansion to the north.
A short stretch of the northbound lanes of the Buendia–Quirino portion which crosses Buendia Avenue was opened to motorists in June 2018. The Buendia–Plaza Dilao segment was then partially opened on July 22, 2019, toll-free and exclusively to Class 1 vehicles only. A fire at the San Miguel Yamamura Packaging Corporation plastic plant in Pandacan caused a portion of Skyway Stage 3 to collapse, causing untimely delays in the project. The damaged portions from the fire required total reconstruction of the pierheads and the replacement of the burnt girders, pushing back the opening of the segment to November 2020.

Metro Pacific Tollways proposal: NLEX-SLEX Connector Road

Meanwhile, a year before the CMMTC proposal was unveiled, NLEX concessionaire Metro Pacific Tollways through its subsidiary, the NLEX Corporation submitted its proposal dubbed "Segment 11" of its NLEX Phase 2 project. The "NLEX Connector Road " would involve the construction of a elevated expressway from Buendia to the C-3 Road, which would connect to Segment 10 above existing Philippine National Railways right-of-way.
In recommending approval for both proposals, DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson said they could co-exist as the projects service two different corridors of the metro.

Skyway Expansion Project

The project was first proposed by San Miguel Corporation in November 2017. SMC envisions its project expanding the two-lane section from Hillsborough toll plaza to Alabang to six, and building a extension from South Station Alabang, the current southern terminus, to SLEX Susana Heights in Muntinlupa. The Skyway Expansion Project is the first phase of the firm's three-year expansion project of all toll roads in southern Metro Manila to decrease traffic congestion on the area's major thoroughfares.
Construction of the extension project began on August 2019. It is expected to be completed by December 2020 at a cost of.

Tolls

The expressway employs a combination of open road, closed road, and barrier toll systems. Northbound toll collection is done at toll barriers at Muntinlupa, where vehicles from the South Luzon Expressway are paid a toll based on their entry point at SLEx, and exits have no toll collection at all. Southbound toll collection is done at the toll barriers upon exit, but for those exiting to SLEx, the toll collection is done on its exits instead. No tickets are issued on entry points on the Skyway.
Skyway employs the RFID-based Autosweep electronic toll collection system used on the expressways under San Miguel Tollways. Previously, the transponder-based E-Pass is used. ETC collection lanes are usually on the leftmost lane of a toll plaza, but may occur on mixed lanes, where cash payments can be done alongside ETC.
Beginning on February 16, 2020, Class 2 and 3 vehicles and closed vans are prohibited from using the southbound portion of Skyway; these are assigned to the at-grade portion to mitigate the traffic caused by the closure of one southbound lane for the ongoing construction of the Skyway Extension Project in Muntinlupa.
, the toll rates, from Ayala Greenfield Estates toll plaza, the first toll barrier at South Luzon Expressway northbound, are as follows:

Exits

Kilometer count are measured from Kilometer Zero in Rizal Park.

Current and former exits

Stage 3