Skyway

Route

The Skyway connects the North and South Luzon Expressways. It runs above several major roads in Metro Manila, with strategically located entry and exit ramps. The expressway is divided into four stages, from north to south:

Stage 3: Balintawak (NLEX) exit in Caloocan to Buendia exit in Makati

Stage 1: Buendia exit to near Bicutan exit in Parañaque

Stage 2: Bicutan to South Station (Alabang-Zapote) Exit in Alabang, Muntinlupa

South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Elevated Extension: (formerly known as the Skyway Extension and also known as Alabang South Skyway Extension) Skyway Main Line toll plaza to the South Luzon Expressway, both in Muntinlupa

Stages 1 and 2 are collectively known as the South Metro Manila Skyway Project.

From the North Luzon Expressway, the Skyway begins in Libis Baesa, Caloocan, about 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) south of the Balintawak toll plaza. A possible connection to a future toll road to New Manila International Airport in Bulacan is at that exit. It enters Quezon City and after rising above the Balintawak Interchange (where it crosses EDSA), it turns east towards Circumferential Road 3 (C-3), particularly Sgt. Rivera and G. Araneta Avenues.

The expressway runs south above Gregorio Araneta Avenue until it reaches the San Juan River. The Skyway follows the river to its mouth at the Pasig River in San Juan, Mandaluyong, and Manila before turning towards the San Miguel Yamamura packaging plant (owned by Skyway concessionaire San Miguel Corporation) in Pandacan. There, it will meet the 1.2-kilometer (0.75 mi) elevated connecting road to the NLEX Connector in Santa Mesa that will branch off parallel to the Philippine National Railways (PNR) right-of-way, which is being redeveloped for the North–South Commuter Railway (NSCR). The main expressway turns east onto Tomas Claudio Street (Paco–Santa Mesa Road) and Nagtahan Link Bridge towards Quirino Avenue (C-2). It then turns towards Osmeña Highway and enters Makati, where the Buendia exit is located.

History

Conceptualization

The concept of an elevated expressway system linking the northern and southern corridors of Metro Manila dates back to 1967 during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos. In October of that year, a committee on Manila elevated expressways, chaired by Highways Commissioner Baltazar Aquino, submitted a strong recommendation to President Marcos for the construction of "elevated streets" to ease the travel woes of commuters between the north and south of Manila. The proposed idea was planned in two phases: the first phase extending from Mabini Bridge in Manila to the Balintawak Interchange in Quezon City, and the second phase stretching from the south end of Mabini Bridge to the Manila South Diversion Road. The project was envisioned to utilize foreign financing and drew on preliminary feasibility studies conducted by a Japanese firm.

A year later, a preliminary study conducted by Nippon Kaigai Consultants Corporation proposed a network consisting of three routes:

First route (Mabini Expressway): 3.8 kilometers (2.4 mi)

Second route: 5.5 kilometers (3.4 mi)

Third route: 3.7 kilometers (2.3 mi)

In the 1973 Urban Transport Study in Manila Metropolitan Area (UTSMMA) conducted by the Overseas Technical Cooperation Agency (OTCA), an extensive high-speed urban expressway network was conceptualized for Metro Manila to alleviate severe traffic congestion along major arterial roads. Instead of a standalone corridor, the study proposed an elevated expressway alignment running directly above EDSA, which was designed to serve as a high-capacity outer ring bypass integrating with radial expressways to channel through-traffic away from the inner city core.

In January 1988, Manila Councilor Jaime de la Rosa proposed a network of elevated highways (skyways) to be constructed over the Philippine National Railways (PNR) tracks, running from one end of the city to the other. Under this proposal, the skyway would utilize the 40-foot (12 m) right of way of the PNR for its railway operations, with PNR officials reportedly amenable to the project. To help recover the massive investments required, government officials considered charging toll fees. This was part of a broader look into elevated highway systems—including separate routes from Nagtahan to Caloocan, and from Vito Cruz to Cubao—aimed at addressing Metro Manila's worsening traffic problems.

Development and planning

In 1992, the government proposed the idea of building an elevated expressway from Quirino Avenue in Manila to Alabang, Muntinlupa, spanning 20 kilometers (12 mi). This project would have been a build–operate–transfer (BOT) scheme, and at the time of its development, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez won the support of many congressmen to make a proposal to relieve congestion on the existing South Luzon Expressway with a segment between Magallanes and Alabang. In December 1992, House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. sought to build second-storey highways in Metro Manila to ease traffic congestion. At the same time, President Fidel V. Ramos asked the House Speaker and House Public Works Committee Chairman, Rep. Victor Francisco Ortega (La Union–1st), to pass the solidated five-year Public Works Act before February 1993 to include the proposal of elevated highways in the region.

In 1993, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted a study on the proposed urban expressway system in Metro Manila. The master plan for the planned network was meant to have 150 kilometers (93 mi) of expressways, including a route on the Radial Road 3 (R-3) alignment from Quirino Avenue to Alabang, with the total length of about 20 kilometers (12 mi). It also included routes on the Quirino Avenue, San Juan River and Circumferential Road 3 (C-3) alignments as the proposed Inner Circumferential Expressway from Adriatico Street in Malate, Manila to Radial Road 10 (R-10) in Navotas, with a length of 17.5 kilometers (10.9 mi) and on the Radial Road 9 (R-9) alignment from C-3 in Quezon City to North Luzon Expressway in Caloocan, with a length of 3.8 kilometers (2.4 mi). In the same year, Metro Manila Skyway was launched.

The agreement was supplemented on February 14, 1994, with a related undertaking by Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada (CITRA). CITRA was to provide a preliminary feasibility study on the Metro Manila Skyways (MMS) project, a system of elevated roadway networks passing through the heart of the Metropolitan Manila area. To accelerate the actual implementation of both the Metro Manila Expressway (MME, also known as the C-6 Road and later known as the Southeast Metro Manila Expressway) and the MMS projects, PNCC and CITRA entered into a second agreement. Through that agreement, CITRA committed to finance and undertake the preparation, updating, and revalidation of previous studies on the construction, operation, and maintenance of the projects.

CITRA, a Jakarta-based investor, owned by Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana (a daughter of Indonesian President Suharto), signed a Supplemental Toll Operation Agreement (STOA) in November 1995 with the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) as a grantor and the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) as operator. Negotiations began on October 31, 1994, with a group composed of representatives from the Board of Investments (BOI), the Department of Finance (DOF), AIA Capital as a financial adviser, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the TRB, the PNCC, and CITRA. Under the STOA, Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation (CMMTC) was mandated to finance, design, and construct Stage 1 of the South Metro Manila Tollway Project (an elevated expressway from Bicutan to Buendia) and rehabilitate the at-grade portion of the South Metro Manila Tollway project from Magallanes to Alabang. The STOA was approved by President Ramos in April 1996.

Stage 1

Stage 1 involved the rehabilitation of the 13.43-kilometer (8.35 mi) at-grade portion of South Luzon Expressway from Magallanes to Alabang and the construction of a six-lane, 9.3-kilometer (5.8 mi) elevated expressway above it from Buendia to Bicutan. Construction of Stage 1 began on November 27, 1995, with actual work beginning in the following year. The first pier head rotation was launched by President Ramos in Easter 1996. The girder launching technology was used during the construction. Special girder launchers were used to lift the girders, minimizing the traffic disruption along the South Luzon Expressway. The contact was awarded to a joint venture of Hutama Karya and Taiwanese RSEA.

The Magallanes–Bicutan segment was inaugurated by President Joseph Estrada on December 10, 1998, followed by the Buendia–Magallanes segment. The Magallanes and Bicutan exits, as well as Skyway Toll Plazas A and B, were the first to be completed, followed by the Buendia and Makati (now Amorsolo) exits. The Don Bosco exit started its construction on November 17, 2001, and opened on January 3, 2002, and the construction of NAIA Interchange followed, lasting from March 17, 2004, to its completion on May 30, 2009. CMMTC spent US$32.7 million (₱1.57 billion) on the 9.3-kilometer (5.8 mi) portion of Stage 1.

Stage 2

On April 2, 2009, CITRA announced construction of the second stage; by June of that year, new pillars were constructed. The stage was half done by May 2010, rotating the highest pierhead in the Sucat area. On December 15, 2010, the Bicutan–Sucat portion of Stage 2 opened to the public.

Motorists initially used this portion free of charge for one week, when Skyway tolls were reduced to its 2007 rates. On April 6, 2011, the Hillsborough ramps, Skyway Main Line toll plaza, and South Station exit were opened to the public toll-free until April 25. Stage 2 extended the toll road by about 6.86 kilometers (4.26 mi), from Bicutan to Alabang.

Stage 3

The original plan for the third stage was conceptually in the 1990s. The route would have been a 10.5-kilometer (6.5 mi) route between Quirino Avenue and Sgt. Rivera, known as the Central Metro Manila Skyway and Stage 2 for its two routes would have run from Buendia (Gil Puyat) to Quirino Avenue for 2.5 kilometers (1.6 mi), as the extension of the South Metro Manila Skyway, then again from Sgt. Rivera to NLEX for 3.0 kilometers (1.9 mi), known as the North Metro Manila Skyway. All of the proposals were mentioned in the sources and in the 1999 Metro Manila Urban Transportation Integration Study (MMUTIS).

In 2007, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expressed China's interest, particularly the government-owned China Road and Bridge Corporation, in completing the Skyway project, which was supposed to link Alabang to Makati and then up to Balintawak, Quezon City. Additionally, there are plans to incorporate the port linkage (now absorbed by the new section NLEX Harbor Link) that connects Manila North Harbor and Radial Road 10.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) received an unsolicited proposal to construct a Skyway extension from San Miguel Corporation-backed Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation (CMMTC), which would run from Buendia (Gil Puyat), Makati to Balintawak, Quezon City. The DPWH subjected the proposal to a Swiss challenge, which requires a government agency that has received an unsolicited bid for a project to publish the bid and invite third parties to match (or exceed) it. The project was approved by President Benigno Aquino III in September 2013.

The groundbreaking ceremony of Skyway Stage 3 was held on January 22, 2014, and construction began on February 17. It was expected to be completed in 2017, but the project experienced construction delays. Work stoppages due to the COVID-19 pandemic further delayed the project's full opening until late 2020.

During its construction of Stage 3, several drainage lines and electric poles were relocated to give space for the foundations of its expressway. The power transmission line of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), were rerouted. Most notably, the Sucat-Paco-Araneta-Balintawak Transmission Line relocates Araneta-Balintawak segment and Sucat-Paco segment with new steel poles while the old ones were retired. The San Juan River Bridge was also demolished in 2018 for Stage 3 works and was rebuilt by San Miguel Corporation (SMC) until 2020. Tomas Claudio Street in Manila was also closed between 2019 and 2022 as part of the construction.

SLEX Elevated Extension

First proposed by SMC as the Skyway Extension Project in November 2017, the extension project planned to expand the two-lane section from the Skyway Main Line toll plaza to Alabang–Zapote Road to six lanes (three in each direction) and build an extension from South Station in Alabang to the South Luzon Expressway's Susana Heights exit in Muntinlupa. The SLEX Elevated Extension is the first phase of the corporation's three-year expansion project of all toll roads in southern Metro Manila to ease traffic congestion. In addition to ramps connecting the South Luzon Expressway section near Soldiers Hills and the Skyway main toll plaza, it will include construction of a northbound ramp connecting the Alabang viaduct to the South Station toll plaza and widening of the South Station toll plaza.

Construction of the extension began in August 2019. To facilitate the extension's construction, the Hillsborough ramps were closed and demolished; the northbound on-ramp was closed in 2020, followed by the southbound off-ramp on April 19, 2021. The extension was originally expected to be completed by December 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and construction delays postponed the extension opening until 2021. A November 21, 2020 construction accident on the East Service Road in Barangay Cupang, Muntinlupa caused delays. The 3.99-kilometer (2.48 mi) northbound section of the project was finished on March 24, 2021, and was soft-opened (toll-free until further notice) on April 11. The 3.6-kilometer (2.2 mi) southbound section then opened on December 10. The extension was inaugurated on February 15, 2022, as the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) Elevated Extension Project.

Operations and maintenance

The Skyway is operated and maintained by the Skyway Operations and Maintenance Corporation (SOMCO). SOMCO took over the expressway's operations and maintenance from former operator PNCC Skyway Corporation in January 2008 and was declared to comply with the July 2007 Amended Supplemental Toll Operators Agreement (A-STOA) between the PNCC, Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation and the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), which awarded management of the 35-kilometer (22 mi) road to Citra. The Skyway uses the Vendeka toll-collection system. SOMCO controls the Skyway three main operational functions: traffic safety and management, maintenance, and toll collection.

The expressway's concessionaire varies by stage. The concessionaire of Stages 1 and 2 (known as the South Metro Manila Skyway Project), including the at-grade portion of the South Luzon Expressway from Magallanes to Alabang, and SLEX Elevated Extension is SMC Skyway Corporation (formerly Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation, or CMMTC). The concessionaire of Stage 3 is SMC Skyway Stage 3 Corporation (formerly Citra Central Expressway Corporation), a subsidiary of Stage 3 Connector Tollways Holding Corporation (S3CTH).

The aforementioned companies are subsidiaries of San Miguel Corporation through SMC Infrastructure.

Future

Skyway Stage 4

The Southeast Metro Manila Expressway (SEMME), also known as Skyway Stage 4, is a 32.664-kilometer (20.296 mi) under-construction expressway from Skyway Stage 2 near Arca South in Taguig to Batasan Road (near Batasang Pambansa Complex) in Quezon City. The expressway is planned to extend to Bulacan. The project aims to provide an alternate route to EDSA, C-5, and other major roads for motorists coming from Rizal and the Calabarzon area to ease traffic congestion. The project's groundbreaking ceremony was held on January 8, 2018, and it was expected to be completed by 2022. As of 2024, however, the project was delayed due to right of way issues.

New Manila International Airport link

As a part of San Miguel Corporation's New Manila International Airport (NMIA) project, the concessionaire proposed linking the airport to NLEX and SLEX via Skyway Stage 3. The section of NLEX between its Balintawak toll plaza and Skyway's Balintawak on- and off-ramps mostly in Caloocan has pillars to connect the Skyway northward to a future toll road which will lead to the new airport in Bulakan, Bulacan. The project runs above a toll road operated by NLEX Corporation, another concessionaire.

The toll road project, later known as the Northern Access Link Expressway (NALEX), was approved by the Toll Regulatory Board in June 2022. It would be 19 kilometers (12 mi) long from Skyway Stage 3 to a roundabout in Meycauayan, near the airport. Another 117-kilometer (73 mi) stretch would be built beyond the NMIA roundabout, ending at the southern end of the Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway in Tarlac City. When completed, NALEX would be 136 kilometers (85 mi) long. The NALEX project costs ₱148 billion and the first segment is targeted to be completed by 2028.

Southern Access Link Expressway

The Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEX) is a proposed series of elevated expressways through the western part of Metro Manila. It is part of Component 2 of the Greater Capital Region Integrated Expressways Network. SALEX is a proposed 40.65-kilometer (25.26 mi) elevated expressway network comprising the Shoreline Expressway and three (3) Metro Manila Skyway Stage (MMSS3) Extensions, namely: C3–R10 Extension, Quirino Extension, and Buendia (Gil Puyat) Extension. SALEX will improve motorists’ access to the NMIA as well as support its surrounding economies.

Bus rapid transit

According to San Miguel Corporation president and COO Ramon Ang, the company began considering bus rapid transit on the Skyway in 2017. The proposed system, announced on April 26, 2021, may have high-capacity point-to-point (P2P) buses, and will be sent to the Department of Transportation when finalized. It aims to make commutes safer and more convenient, maximizing the benefits of the elevated expressway in diverting vehicles from other roads. However, no updates were made.

Tolls

The expressway combines open-road, closed-road, and barrier toll systems. Toll collection is divided between the South Metro Manila Skyway Project and Skyway Stage 3 but are altogether part of the Seamless Southern Tollways program of San Miguel Corporation.

The South Metro Manila Skyway toll system is integrated with the South Luzon (SLEX) and Muntinlupa–Cavite Expressways (MCX). Northbound tolls are collected upon entry on Skyway or NAIAX. Entering motorists from SLEX pay an additional toll at the Main Line toll plaza in Muntinlupa. Tolls are not charged at northbound exits from Magallanes to Buendia, but additional toll fees apply upon exit from NAIAX or Skyway Stage 3. Southbound tolls are collected upon exit from Skyway, NAIAX, SLEX, MCX, or STAR Tollway. No tickets are issued at southbound entrances.

On the other hand, Stage 3 tolls are based on distance and vehicle class. Northbound tolls are collected at either Del Monte toll plaza for exits at Sgt. Rivera, A. Bonifacio, or Balintawak (NLEX), or upon exit elsewhere. Southbound tolls are collected at either Del Monte for exits at Quezon Avenue or G. Araneta, or upon exit elsewhere. Exit toll collection for NLEX Connector (via elevated spur road in Manila) is yet to be determined.

The Skyway uses the RFID-based Autosweep electronic toll collection (ETC) system used on the expressways by San Miguel Tollways. Previously, the transponder-based E-Pass was used. ETC lanes are usually on the left lane of a toll plaza, but mixed lanes also accepting cash exist. More ETC lanes were added at toll barriers as Philippine tollways shift towards cashless toll collection. RFID installation and reloading lanes are also located at selected

Skyway toll plazas. Cash is accepted only at South Skyway and some toll plazas of Stage 3.

Class 3 vehicles are currently not permitted to use the Skyway, and trucks are banned on Stage 3 due to safety concerns. The under-construction NLEX Connector is expected to compensate for the restriction, which will bypass the majority of Stage 3 to connect to South Skyway.

The toll rates are as follows:

Exits

This entire route is located in Metro Manila. Exits and intersections are numbered by kilometer posts, currently found only on Stages 1 and 2, with Rizal Park in Manila designated as Kilometer 0.

Skyway Stage 3–NLEX Connector link

The entire route is located in Manila. Referred to as Sections 2A' (Tomas Claudio – PUP, Sta. Mesa) or as part of Section 1A - 2 (Plaza Berde – PUP campus) of Skyway Stage 3, this 1.2-kilometer (0.75 mi) segment of Skyway will link the main line of Skyway Stage 3 near Tomas Claudio Street (Nagtahan Link Bridge) and NLEX Connector near the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) campus in Santa Mesa.