After years of waiting, talking, postponing, and threatening to push it to another administration, the long-delayed rehabilitation of EDSA is finally happening—and this time, the government says it will be faster, cheaper, and far less painful for motorists.
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) confirmed that the EDSA rehabilitation will begin on December 24, taking advantage of the holiday break when traffic volumes typically dip. More importantly, the project timeline has been dramatically shortened to just eight months, a far cry from the original two-year plan that had motorists and commuters bracing for daily gridlock.
DPWH Secretary Vince Dizon announced the revised plan in a joint press conference with the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), explaining that the project will now be implemented in two phases. The first four months will cover the stretch from Roxas Boulevard to EDSA-Orense, while the remaining four months will focus on the rest of the 23-kilometer highway.
Just as significant as the shortened timeline is the cost reduction. Under the old plan, the EDSA rehab carried a hefty P17-billion price tag, largely due to full reblocking and traditional asphalt overlay across the entire road. The revised approach slashes the budget to P6 billion, resulting in a reported P11 billion in savings.
How did DPWH pull that off? By changing both strategy and technology.
Instead of reblocking the entire highway, DPWH will now reblock only selected sections that truly need it. For resurfacing, the agency will use stone mastic asphalt (SMA), a newer and more durable asphalt technology known for better resistance to rutting and wear—an important consideration for a road that carries hundreds of thousands of vehicles daily. According to Dizon, this method allows faster construction without compromising road quality.
Construction will start aggressively during the holiday period. Phase 1 begins at 11 p.m. on December 24, with 24-hour works continuing until 5 a.m. on January 5, 2026. During this window, DPWH will focus on reblocking works and asphalt overlay of the EDSA Busway lanes in both directions.
After the holidays, the project shifts to nighttime-only construction to minimize disruption. From January 5 to May 31, works will run from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on weekdays for lane-by-lane asphalt overlay, and from Friday to Sunday for both overlay and limited reblocking—restricted to one lane per direction. Crucially, all affected sections are expected to reopen by 5 a.m. daily, coordinated closely with the MMDA.
Compared to the original plan, which would have subjected EDSA to rolling daytime lane closures for two years, this revised schedule is designed to keep daytime traffic largely intact. DPWH and MMDA have also committed to rolling out traffic advisories and management measures ahead of implementation.
For a road that has become a national symbol of congestion, skepticism is understandable. But if the eight-month timeline, reduced cost, and nighttime-only disruption hold true, this may finally be the rare infrastructure project on EDSA that delivers relief instead of just another headache.
