IMG SOURCE: Business Channel

MANILA, Philippines -- President Duterte, together with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), inaugurated the Estrella-Pantaleon bridge on Thursday, July 29.

According to Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar's facebook post, the bridge will be open to the motoring public.

"The Pantaleon Estrella Bridge, connecting Makati and Mandaluyong, to open tom -- July 29, 8 p.m. #BuildBuildBuild."

This newly-inaugurated bridge connects the cities of Mandaluyong and Makati, cutting travel time between them down to five minutes and is expected to decongest EDSA.

"This newly completed bridge was implemented by DPWH Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) operations and is expected to further decongest vehicular traffic at Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (Edsa)."

Built at a cost of P1.46 billion, the Estrella-Pantaleon bridge is one of two bridges funded by a grant from China—the other one is the Binondo-Intramuros bridge in Manila, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

During the inauguration, Duterte expressed his gratitude towards the Chinese government for funding the construction of the new bridge. He noted how this not only will improve mobility and connectivity, but also enhance resilience against natural disasters.

Meanwhile, Villar said the modern bridge will serve about 50,000 vehicles daily and will help address traffic congestion. 

Compared to the old bridge, this new one has four lanes—two for each direction—and a wider sidewalk. Its V-shaped piers are made of pre-stressed rigid frames with corrugated steel webs, replacing the temporary two-lane box truss bridge dismantled in 2019.