To further decongest Metro Manila roads and facilitate travel to and from the provinces, President Arroyo ordered authorities Wednesday to fast track the completion of the interconnection between North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and Circumferential Road 5 (C5) Northern Link Project.

The President specifically asked Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando to pay attention on the NLEX-C5 interconnection project shortly after she praised him for the completion of the P350-million twin elevated U-turns along the C5 along Kalayaan Avenue, Makati City.

Three hours after she arrived from her four-day tour in Egypt and Syria, the President rode a pick-up truck and led the 200-meter initial drive through the new U-turn slot on C5 road funded by the MMDA.

Accompanying the President were Fernando and other local executives.

"Congratulations Bayani, ang importante, narinig natin na maluwang na ang traffic dito. Iyun ang resulta ng pagkabisa na proyektong ito. Ngayon dahil mission accomplished na, ang susunod ang C5-NLEX. Yun ang bibigyan pansin mo ngayon," she told Fernando during the inauguration rites.

Mrs. Arroyo said she hopes the construction of Segment 8.1 of the NLEX Phase 2 project, which begins at Mindanao Avenue in Quezon City and ends south of the Valenzuela Interchange, would also reduce traffic congestion and allow seamless entry into the expressway. The P2.1-billion-project is expected to be completed on April 2010.

In his briefing to the President, Fernando said the newly built elevated U-turn slots on C5 road would dramatically reduce traffic on the 24-kilometer C5 road, particularly allowing a travel time of 43.8 kilometers per hour in the traffic bottleneck.

He said they originally planned to build a tunnel to accelerate flow in the C5 intersection but decided to construct the elevated U-turns to save as much as P1 billion a year in maintenance costs.

With the smooth traffic flow passing through the elevated U-turns, Fernando said they would no longer install traffic signal facilities. “There will be no more need for 24-hour lighting, ventilation and water-pump system as (required by) a tunnel,” he added.