It runs parallel to the four other beltways around Metro Manila and is also known for being the second most important transportation corridor after Circumferential Road 4.[3]
Originally planned to run from Navotas in the north, the route is not yet complete because of certain controversies regarding the right of way, but portions of the route are already open for public use.[citation needed] On July 23, 2019, the two segments of the route were connected with the completion of the CAVITEX C-5 Link through a 2.2-kilometer (1.4 mi) flyover over the Skyway and the SLEX in 2019.[4][5]
It is also known as Metro Manila's deadliest highway route, having 31 fatalities in 2019, 27 in 2018, and 23 in 2017. This is due to trucks and motorcycles along the narrow highway, as well as its road conditions.[6]
Route description
C-5 lies parallel to other circumferential roads around Metro Manila, most notably EDSA of C-4. It passes through the cities of Valenzuela, Quezon City, Pasig, Taguig, Pasay, Parañaque, and Las Piñas, in addition to a small portion of Makati before the transfer of said area to Taguig in 2023. The road is divided into several segments.
From the Harbor Link Interchange to a 3-way signalized junction with Mindanao Avenue, C-5 is known as NLEX–Mindanao Avenue Link or NLEX Segment 8.1. The entire 2.7-kilometer (1.7 mi) toll road is also designated as a part of C-5 Road.
Mindanao Avenue in Barangay Tandang Sora, Quezon City
At the eastern end of NLEX Segment 8.1, C-5 turns southeast and becomes Mindanao Avenue. It is a 10-lane divided carriageway that serves as the main transportation corridor of Barangays Talipapa and Tandang Sora in Quezon City. The 3.5 kilometers (2.2 mi) portion of this 6.7-kilometer (4.2 mi) road from NLEX Segment 8.1 to Congressional Avenue is designated as a portion of C-5.
At the signaled junction with Mindanao Avenue, C-5 turns northeast as Congressional Avenue, a six-lane divided carriageway that serves as the main east-to-west transportation corridor of Barangays Bahay Toro, Culiat, Pasong Tamo, and Tandang Sora in Quezon City. It continues east for 3.9 kilometers (2.4 mi) up to Luzon Avenue.
Luzon Avenue
Luzon Avenue Flyover
At the end of Congressional Avenue Extension, C-5 turns south as Luzon Avenue, a 4-lane divided city road between Barangays Culiat and Matandang Balara in Quezon City, for 850 meters (2,790 ft) up to Commonwealth Avenue. The 6-lane Luzon Avenue Flyover carries C-5 across Commonwealth Avenue to connect it with Tandang Sora Avenue.
Southeast of Commonwealth Avenue, C-5 is known as Tandang Sora Avenue. It runs for 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) from Barangay Matandang Balara, going around the University of the Philippines Diliman campus, up to the junction with Magsaysay Avenue.
The original planned route of C-5 included the entire 9.6-kilometer (6.0 mi) road; however, due to the road's incapacity to carry a large amount of vehicular traffic, only the 1-kilometer (0.62 mi) portion from the Luzon Avenue Flyover to Magsaysay Avenue was designated as a portion of C-5 Road. Furthermore, Tandang Sora Avenue becomes a six-lane divided carriageway shortly after crossing Capitol Hills Drive, 350 meters (1,150 ft) south of the flyover.
After crossing Magsaysay Avenue, C-5 turns south and becomes Katipunan Avenue, a ten-lane divided carriageway that serves as the main transportation corridor of Matandang Balara, Pansol, Loyola Heights, and Project 4 in Quezon City. It heads south for 4.8 kilometers (3.0 mi) until its junction with Bonny Serrano Avenue. Shortly before crossing Bonny Serrano Avenue, a 4-lane divided underpass descends from Katipunan Avenue, traverses underneath Col. Bonny Serrano Avenue and ascends into Libis Flyover, which immediately connects it to E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue.
C-5 passes through a section of Colonel Bonny Serrano Avenue, a four-lane undivided avenue, as a connecting corridor 500 meters (1,600 ft) from Katipunan Avenue to Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue. The Libis Tunnel and Libis Flyover traverse between the avenue's westbound and eastbound lanes.
At its junction with Bonny Serrano Avenue and FVR Road at the Libis Tunnel and Libis Flyover, C-5 then turns south as Eulogio S. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, a 6.7-kilometer (4.2 mi), 10-lane divided road that serves as the main thoroughfare between Quezon City and Pasig. The road ends at a junction with Pasig Boulevard and continues onto C.P. Garcia Bridge, which crosses the Pasig River and eventually becomes Carlos P. Garcia Avenue shortly afterwards. The avenue is named after Eulogio Rodriguez Jr., a former representative and governor of Rizal.[8]
Past the C.P. Garcia Bridge over the Pasig River, C-5 becomes Carlos P. Garcia Avenue. It is a 7.5 km (4.7 mi), fourteen-lane divided road that serves as the main thoroughfare in western Taguig. It passes through a small portion of Embo (formerly part of Makati) and continuously passes Taguig, where it bypasses Bonifacio Global City and meets the exit ramps to the CAVITEX–C-5 Link and the South Luzon Expressway before ending at the intersection with East Service Road.
It is not to be mistaken with the legal name of the C-5 route.
Studies conducted by the PHIVOLCS revealed that a large portion of C-5 is built on top of the West Valley Fault. A map of the fault line released on May 18, 2015, shows C-5 in Taguig beside the fault line.[9] The C-5 road is prone to liquefaction.[10]
History
The unfinished northern section of the C-5 Kalayaan elevated U-turn slot in March 2009, about two months before its completion
The proposal for the Metro Manila Arterial Road System was made in the late 1960s.[11] The proposal mentions building ten radial roads and six circumferential roads to support Metro Manila's growing vehicular population. Circumferential Road 5's original alignment was to begin at a proposed coastal road near Manila Bay in Navotas at the north and traverse around Manila up to Radial Road 1 (now comprises the Manila–Cavite Expressway) at the south.[12]
Construction of Circumferential Road 5 began in 1986.[11][13] The project also involved building new alignments that would combine with old existing roads, including Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, built in the 1960s. The first phase of the C-5 Road from Taguig to Ortigas Avenue, Pasig, which cost approximately ₱1.2 billion to construct, was officially inaugurated by President Fidel V. Ramos on December 30, 1994.[14] Under the power of Republic Act No. 8224, which was passed on November 6, 1996, the C-5 road was legally known as President Carlos P. Garcia Avenue after the eighth President of the Philippines, Carlos P. Garcia.[15]
From April 2009 to June 2010, the NLEX–Mindanao Avenue Link (Segment 8.1) in Valenzuela and Congressional Avenue Extension from Tandang Sora to Luzon Avenues in Quezon City were constructed. Carlos P. Garcia Avenue Extension in the South Extension in Parañaque was also opened. In March 2015, the NLEX–Karuhatan Link (Segment 9) was opened to all motorists. The opening of Segment 9 from NLEx to MacArthur Highway in Karuhatan, Valenzuela served as a preparation for the Holy Week season.
Presently, the Luzon Avenue Flyover connecting Tandang Sora and Luzon Avenues across Commonwealth Avenue is open to all motorists. Before the flyover's opening, the Congressional Avenue Extension from Visayas to Luzon Avenue was opened in 2010 to decongest heavy traffic in the Visayas–Tandang Sora Avenue Intersection.
From September 2022 to April 2024, the C-5 Quirino Flyover, which crosses Diego Cera and Fruto Santos Avenues in Las Piñas, was constructed on the C-5 Extension. It opened on April 24, 2024.[17]
Controversies
In 2012, the Senate of the Philippines investigated the south extension project, which would pass several of Manny Villar's properties, such as Camella. The original extension, called the Manila–Cavite Toll Expressway Project (MCTEP), was already approved by the Senate and would have been made as a toll expressway. The project eventually resurrected as C-5 Southlink Expressway (now known as CAVITEX–C-5 Link).[18]
C-5 Expressway
In 1993, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) studied the proposed urban expressway system in Metro Manila. The master plan for the planned network, meant to have 150 kilometers (93 mi) of expressways, included the proposed Central Circumferential Expressway that would follow the old C-5 alignment from Navotas to Parañaque with a total length of about 45.8 kilometers (28.5 mi).[19]
More than two decades later, NLEX Corporation (formerly Manila North Tollways Corporation) and CAVITEX Infrastructure Inc. submitted a proposal for C-5 Expressway, a 19-kilometer (12 mi) fully elevated expressway that would further decongest the existing C-5 and provide a fully controlled-access route between CAVITEX C-5 Link and NLEX Segment 8.2 (C-5 Link).[20] The proposed expressway would utilize portions of the existing C-5's right of way between SLEX and Pasig Boulevard and run above Marikina River from Pasig Boulevard to Luzon Avenue.
C-5-Kalayaan Interchange. Former traffic light intersection. Access to Kalayaan Avenue westbound from C-5 northbound via elevated U-turn slot. Access to Kalayaan Avenue eastbound from C-5 southbound via elevated U-turn slot.
Traffic light intersection for southbound at-grade only. No left turn and U-turn from C-5 southbound. Route number on at-grade changes from N11 to N141.[1]
C-5-Ortigas Interchange. Traffic light intersection at grade. No left turns from northbound. Access to C-5 southbound either through flyover ramp or traffic light intersection.
Traffic light intersection. Access to Eastwood City.
South end of Libis Flyover
14.234
8.845
C-5 Access Road
Exit only for C-5 northbound. Entrance to C-5 southbound and northbound. North end of E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue segment. East end of Bonny Serrano Avenue segment.
The entire route is located in Valenzuela. The kilometer count, which would be shown here in its approximate values, increments east and west of Harbor Link Interchange as it branches off NLEX Main.
^Katahira & Engineers International (October 29, 1993). "Metro Manila Urban Expressway System Study"(PDF). Japan International Cooperation Agency. Archived(PDF) from the original on March 7, 2023. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
^"C-5 Expressway". DPWH PPP Portal. Department of Public Works and Highways. Archived from the original on October 12, 2018. Retrieved July 30, 2018.
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