Buendia Underpass

In 2015, the DPWH planned to construct a vehicle underpass along Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue (formerly Buendia) to ease traffic in the area. Whatever happened to it?

The construction of the four-lane, 570 meters tunnel that passes through the Makati Avenue and Paseo de Roxas intersections was slated to start in June 2015 and be completed in April 2017. The Php1.2 billion project is expected to reduce traffic congestion in the area by some 50 percent.

So what happened?

According to the Freedom of Information website, the underpass project was suspended because the DPWH failed to acquire an excavation permit from the Makati LGU.

If it pushed through...

Back then, car rides from A. Venue mall to Zuellig building (approx 880m) could take as long as 1.5 hours on rainy days. The underpass construction would have worsened the traffic during the tunnel's construction. The traffic would have the northern part of Makati (Guadalupe Viejo/Nuevo, Poblacion, and Bel-Air) cut off from the rest of the city. Poblacion might not be what it is now.

Harmful in the short term, but good in the long term. This is an example of how regulatory risk (in this case, traffic management) can take you by surprise and affect real estate investments. So don’t put your eggs in one basket.

Maybe this is the best time to begin construction while traffic isn’t as bad as before. Just a thought.