C-5 Road

Circumferential Road 5 (C-5), informally known as the C-5 Road, is a network of roads and bridges which comprise the fifth beltway of Metro Manila in the Philippines. Spanning some , it connects the cities of Las Piñas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig, Quezon City, Taguig, and Valenzuela.

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.

Originally planned to run from Navotas in the north, the route remains incomplete because of right of way controversies, but portions of the route are already open for public use. On July 23, 2019, the two segments of the route were connected with the completion of the CAVITEX C-5 Link through a flyover.

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.

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 the Embo barangays that were part of Makati until their transfer to Taguig in 2023. The road is divided into several segments.

NLEX Harbor Link

From MacArthur Highway in Karuhatan, Valenzuela to Harbor Link Interchange, a cloverleaf interchange with the main line of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), C-5 is a toll road known as NLEX Karuhatan Link or NLEX Segment 9. Measuring long, it is also the first segment of the NLEX Harbor Link project, which connects the NLEX with the Port of Manila.

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 toll road is also designated as a part of C-5 Road.

Mindanao Avenue

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 portion of this road from NLEX Segment 8.1 to Congressional Avenue is designated as a portion of C-5.

Congressional Avenue

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 up to its eastern terminus at Luzon Avenue.

Luzon Avenue

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 up to Commonwealth Avenue. The 6-lane Luzon Avenue Flyover carries C-5 across Commonwealth Avenue to connect it with Tandang Sora Avenue.

Tandang Sora Avenue

Southeast of Commonwealth Avenue, C-5 is known as Tandang Sora Avenue. It runs for 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 road; however, due to the road's incapacity to carry a large amount of vehicular traffic, only the 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, south of the flyover.

Katipunan Avenue

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 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.

Colonel Bonny Serrano Avenue

C-5 passes through a section of Colonel Bonny Serrano Avenue, a four-lane undivided avenue, as a connecting corridor from Katipunan Avenue to Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue. The Libis Tunnel and Libis Flyover traverse between the avenue's westbound and eastbound lanes.

Eulogio S. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue

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 , 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.

Carlos P. Garcia Avenue

Past the C.P. Garcia Bridge over the Pasig River, C-5 becomes Carlos P. Garcia Avenue. It is a , 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.

C-5 Road Extension

Across the South Luzon Expressway, C-5 continues as C-5 Road Extension from West Service Road near Merville Exit of SLEX in Pasay. It also serves as the two frontage roads of CAVITEX –C-5 Link's section in Pasay. It traverses along the southern perimeter fence of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and enters Parañaque. It then curves around Amvel City, crosses Dr. A. Santos Avenue and Diego Cera Avenue, and ends at the Manila–Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX) in Las Piñas. The future LRT Line 1 Extension will run along most of the Las Piñas segment of C-5 Road Extension.

Location on the West Valley Fault

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. The C-5 road is prone to liquefaction.

History

The proposal for the Metro Manila Arterial Road System was made in the late 1960s. 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. In the 1970s, its proposed southern alignment included a route through Bicutan and the area what is now the Better Living Subdivision in Parañaque. From 1978 to 1983, various feasibility studies by the Japan International Cooperation Agency were conducted; segments included a bridge along the Pasig River between the planned Radial Road 4 (now Kalayaan Avenue; later designated to J. P. Rizal Avenue) and Pasig Boulevard and the Santolan (now Bonny Serrano Avenue) to Aurora Boulevard. The next study would link the Manila North Expressway (MNE), now known as the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and Navotas, linking with the future extension of Radial Road 10, as the Manila-Bataan Coastal Road. Another study that would pass from the MNE to Aurora Boulevard via Republic and Katipunan Avenues. Some proposals were never materialized; however, in 1998, the Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC, later NLEX Corporation) and the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) handled the proposal of the planned northern segment, which is now partially operational as of 2025.

Construction of Circumferential Road 5 began in 1986. 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 the South Luzon Expressway at the Pasay–Taguig boundary to Ortigas Avenue, Pasig, was officially inaugurated by President Fidel V. Ramos on December 30, 1994. The project, which costs approximately to construct, also included the existing segment of Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue between Ortigas Avenue and Pasig Boulevard. The project was funded by Japan's Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF, subsequently Japan Bank for International Cooperation, and currently JICA). 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.

On July 23, 2007, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced in her State of the Nation Address that C-5 Road will be extended to northern Metro Manila up to the North Luzon Expressway in Valenzuela. From April 2009 to June 2010, the NLEX–Mindanao Avenue Link ( Harbor 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 (Harbor 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.

On November 19, 2024, Kaingin Service Road, which bypasses the Kaingin Road alignment in Santo Niño, Parañaque, was completed and was turned over by CAVITEX Infrastructure Corporation to the Parañaque City Government. It later officially became part of C-5 Extension's alignment, replacing Kaingin Road, which was later dismantled during the construction of CAVITEX–C-5 Link Segment 3B.

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).

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 of expressways, included the proposed Expressway Route C-5 that would follow the old C-5 alignment from Navotas to Parañaque with a total length of about . In the 1999 Metro Manila Urban Transport Integrated Study, the plan for the elevated expressway was also planned, spanning from the Manila–Cavite Expressway to South Fairview. This was also mentioned again in the 2003 study.

In 2014, under the Roadmap for Transport Infrastructure Development for Metro Manila and Its Surrounding Areas (Region III & Region IV-A; also known as the Metro Manila Dream Plan), the JICA study proposes a expressway from the Manila–Cavite Expressway to San Jose Del Monte in Bulacan to pass above the existing C-5. This was mentioned again in the 2019 follow-up report. In the late 2010s, NLEX Corporation (formerly Manila North Tollways Corporation) and CAVITEX Infrastructure Inc. submitted a proposal for C-5 Expressway, a 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). 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.

Events

*May 23, 2019, supporters of Taguig–Pateros 1st district Representative Arnel Cerafica held a protest along C-5 near Ususan, Taguig, to contest Cerafica's loss in the Taguig mayoral race to former Taguig 2nd district Representative Lino Cayetano, alleging irregularities such as malfunctioning vote-counting machines and vote-buying. The rally caused heavy traffic along C-5 between South Luzon Expressway and Julia Vargas Avenue in Pasig.
*Since March 16, 2025, the segment of C-5's service road between Dalanghita Street and Taguig Eco Park (near Bayani Road) in Pinagsama, Taguig, is a venue of the weekly Car-Free Sundays initiative by the Taguig City Government. The segment is thus closed to vehicular traffic early every Sunday morning.

Exits and intersections

NLEX Mindanao Avenue & Karuhatan Link

CAVITEX–C-5 Link

C-5 Extension

Notes

External links

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References

{{Road infrastructure in Manila

Routes in Metro Manila
Bike lanes in Metro Manila