Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark A. Villar announced the completion of widening from two lanes to four lanes of the 2.22 kilometer section of Plaridel Bypass Road in the Province of Bulacan.
Secretary Villar said that part of the completed section is the additional two-lane bridge parallel to the 2018 completed two way two-lane Angat Bridge (Bridge No. 8 ) with a total length of 1.12 kilometer which at present is one of the longest bridges in the Philippines.
The Plaridel Bypass Road Project is implemented by DPWH Unified Project Management Office – Roads Management Cluster 1 (UPMO-RMC 1) and is among the game-changing infrastructure flagship projects of the government to reduce travel time.
Secretary Villar together with Undersecretary for UPMO Operations Emil K. Sadain and UPMO RMC 1 Project Managers Benjamin Bautista and Basilio Elumba, conducted final inspection on Wednesday, April 20, 2021 at the 2.22 kilometer widened section covered by contract package (CP) 3 of the Arterial Road Bypass Project (ARBP) Phase 3.
According to Undersecretary Sadain, CP-3 of ARBP-Phase 3 costing ₱1.092 Billion was funded by the derived project savings from ARBP-Phase 2 financed by a loan agreement between the Government of the Philippines and the Government of Japan (GOJ) through Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under PH-P250 and a new loan agreement also with JICA under PH-P266.
The contract package covers station 47+400 in Brgy. Bonga Menor, Bustos, Bulacan up to station 49+625 in Brgy. Tambubong, San Rafael, Bulacan and involves construction of Bridge No. 8 or Angat Bridge made of pre-stressed concrete continuous box girder built thru balance cantilever method; 1.063 km portland concrete cement pavement of seven (7) meters carriageway, 0.35 meter thick, and 2.50 meters shoulder for both sides; 40.86 meter Bridge No. 9 on pre-cast concrete piles foundation; extension of one (1) underpass at approach “A” of Bridge No. 8; and extension of drainage, slope protection and miscellaneous works.
ARBP-Phase 3 involves widening from two lanes to four lanes of the entire 24.61 km bypass road from NLEX in Balagtas to San Rafael, Bulacan to cope with present traffic situation with about 15,000 vehicles diverted to the Plaridel Bypass, bypassing several towns of Bulacan and decongesting the traffic at Pan-Philippine Highway (PPH).