Coming Up! LRT North Extension Project

Mass transport has increasingly become a necessity in a congested Metropolis like ours. Over the years, this has become a great solution to combat traffic gridlock in the city's streets. For car-less commuters, this has been a vital link from homes into workplaces, not only because it is fast and efficient, but also hassle-free and cheap.

That's why, our National Government embarked on different rail-based transportation to and within the Metro. First was the old LRT-1 (Monumento-Taft route), followed by heavily-patronized MRT-3 (EDSA) and student-friendly MRT-2 (Marcos-Aurora-Legarda-Recto route) as the latest line added in transport maps.

Despite these mass-transit projects provided by the Government, there is still a greater need for more mass-transits considering that every year, commuters increase rapidly. That's why, in the recent stage, extension of various rail-lines have been put into spotlight. One of this is the connection of existing MRT-3 with the older LRT-1 by adding 5.71 kms. of elevated track and four more stations. Through this, that the LRT-North Extension Project (NEP) was born. First planned right after the MRT-3 construction, this connection will finally 'close-the-loop' of rail transport along EDSA. From North Avenue station of the MRT -3, you'll finally reach Monumento without hassles of taking buses or crowded jeepneys. Once finished, this will jack-up the passenger turnout for both systems, specifically the LRT-1, from a meager 400,000 per day, into 800,00 passengers. Generation of income will be increased, helping the mass transport companies pay-off their debts upon construction of these systems.

As the pictures state, LRT viaducts have already been installed and stations are already up. The construction started in middle of 2008 and the commissioning will be before GMA ends her term, or by May of this year. Definitely, this will be a big boost to our economy since mass transport has been a great help in bringing people to their respective jobs and destinations, thereby productivity among the people will be improved. More of this update in the coming weeks as we inch closer to its inauguration probably by February or May.