Urban planner says PAREX won’t solve Metro Manila traffic: Report

The controversy surrounding the proposed Pasig River Expressway (PAREX) continues to swirl, with both proponents and opponents throwing in their sentiments over the project. One of those lending their voices to the latter is architect and urban planner Paulo Alcazaren, who believes that the PAREX is not the answer to Metro Manila’s perennial traffic problem.

Architect Paulo Alcazaren warns that PAREX will worsen traffic instead of solving it  

“Basically the PAREX was hoisted as a solution to our ‘traffic woes’ but the fact of the matter is, building more roads will not ease traffic unless we refocus our infrastructure building to public transport and non-motorized pedestrian rides,” Alcazaren said in an interview quoted by One News.  

Contrary to the defense raised by PAREX owner and operator San Miguel Corporation (SMC), he pointed out that traffic will only worsen from the induced demand that another expressway will bring, along with increased pollution. “Because it passes along or on top or beside the (river), it brings (additional) pollution to a corridor that didn’t have any air pollution,” Alcazaren explains. 

He adds that PAREX could potentially affect the heritage structures located along the 25-kilometer length of the Pasig River, as well as compromise the waterway’s function as a floodway. 

The urban planner cited Cheonggyecheon in South Korea as an example, where a previous overhead expressway was dismantled 

Alcazaren also took issue with SMC’s claims that PAREX will not be exclusively for private vehicles. “They’re saying the six lanes will now incorporate a BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) lane, bike lanes, and pedestrian lanes, but the problem is that these skyways are tens of meters above (ground),” he said. 

According to him, the elevated position of the BRT terminals means that pedestrians would have to go up and down several flights of stairs from ground level, roughly the equivalent of a five-storey building, in order to use the facilities. This could pose a problem for certain commuters such as the elderly and persons with disabilities (PWDs). “They (SMC) only came up with this after the fact that there was a lot of fallout on social media, and so the spin doctors now are on overtime,” he adds. 

Alcazaren advised SMC boss Ramon Ang (right) to instead focus on the shortcomings of the ongoing MRT-7 project 

Calling PAREX ‘ill-advised,’ Alcazaren raised the possibility that the project will be slapped with a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) by the courts on the basis of the Writ of Kalikasan, given the mounting criticism of the planned 19.37-kilometer tollway by mobility advocates and groups.  

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