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The Estrella–Pantaleon Bridge, also known as the Rockwell Bridge, is a four-lane
box girder bridge A box girder bridge, or box section bridge, is a bridge in which the main beam (structure), beams comprise girders in the shape of a hollow box. The box girder normally comprises prestressed concrete, structural steel, or a composite ma ...
crossing the
Pasig River The Pasig River (; ) is a water body in the Philippines that connects Laguna de Bay to Manila Bay. Stretching for , it bisects the Philippine capital of Manila and Metro Manila, its surrounding urban area into northern and southern halves. Its m ...
in
Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...
,
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. It connects Estrella Street in
Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...
on the south bank of the Pasig River (near the
Rockwell Center Rockwell Center is a high-end Mixed-use development, mixed-use neighborhood in the Poblacion area of Makati City, Metro Manila, Philippines, named after James Rockwell, former President of Meralco, Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company (Meral ...
) to Pantaleon Street via Barangka Drive in
Mandaluyong Mandaluyong ( ; ), officially the City of Mandaluyong (, ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly-urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a popula ...
on the north bank, near the site of the Acqua Private Residences. It is one of three bridges connecting Makati and Mandaluyong, the other two being the Makati–Mandaluyong Bridge connecting Makati Avenue and
Poblacion, Makati Poblacion is one of the 23 barangays of Makati, Philippines. It is centered on the city's historic ''poblacion'' area and serves as the second most important commercial center in Makati behind the Makati Central Business District. It is also th ...
, to Mandaluyong, and the Guadalupe Bridge carrying
EDSA Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, commonly referred to by its acronym EDSA (), is a major Ring road, circumferential road around Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. It passes through 6 of Metro Manila's 17 local government units or citi ...
between the two cities, ultimately serving to help relieve chronic traffic congestion on the two other bridges.


History


First bridge

Originally announced in 2003 by the
Metropolitan Manila Development Authority The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA; ) is a government agency of the Philippines responsible for constituting the regional government of Metro Manila, comprising the capital city of Manila, the cities of Quezon City, Caloocan, ...
(MMDA) as one of several bridges to be built by October that year, construction of the bridge would not be realized until several years later, when it was made part of the three-year Bridge Construction and Acceleration Project for Calamity Stricken Areas I (BCAPCSA I) program funded by
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
to help the Philippines build nineteen weather-resistant bridges, building on a similar program executed by the Austrian and Philippine governments between 2001 and 2005. The bridge was a two-lane box truss bridge. Austrian firm
Waagner-Biro Waagner Biro is a Vienna-based group of companies formerly part of the same group which have developed into separately owned, independent companies operating in steel and mechanical engineering. Collectively, the companies have about 1000 employees ...
provided the modular steel components for the bridge, while actual construction work was performed by the
Department of Public Works and Highways The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH; ) is the executive department of the Philippine government responsible for serving as the country's engineering and construction arm. It is tasked with implementing the government's policy to ...
(DPWH). The million bridge was inaugurated on February 12, 2011, by
Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
Jejomar Binay along with the mayors of
Makati Makati ( ; ), officially the City of Makati (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines, known for being one of the leading financial centers in the country. As of 2013, the city has the highest concent ...
and
Mandaluyong Mandaluyong ( ; ), officially the City of Mandaluyong (, ), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly-urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a popula ...
( Jejomar Binay Jr. and Benjamin Abalos Jr., respectively), Public Works and Highways Secretary Rogelio Singson, and Austrian ambassador to the Philippines Wilhelm Donko. The bridge opened to motorists on the same day.


Second bridge

In June 2017, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar announced the expansion of the Estrella–Pantaleon Bridge. Funded by
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, the new bridge has four lanes and is a twin-spine steel box girder bridge with concrete deck slabs. It will utilize the existing approaches while modifying the abutment and piers to accommodate the new bridge superstructure. The bridge also has wider sidewalks with a width of . The bridge is designed to withstand high-intensity
earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
s. The project is handled by
China Road and Bridge Corporation China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), is a Chinese state-owned construction and engineering firm that focuses on global infrastructure projects such as highways, skyways, rai ...
(CRBC). Aside from the bridge itself, the construction project also includes improving access to the bridge by upgrading and widening Barangka Drive and Pantaleon Street on the Mandaluyong side. The bridge was briefly closed on September 23, 2018, to prepare for expansion works. However, it was reopened on September 25 due to the anticipated heavy traffic during the
Christmas holiday season The Christmas season or the festive season, also known as the holiday season or the holidays, is an annual period generally spanning from November or December to early January. Incorporating Christmas Day and New Year's Day, the various celebrat ...
. Plans for expansion works were moved to January 2019. The bridge's closure started on January 19, 2019. It was met with controversies, citing capacity constraints on the Mandaluyong side landing in a two-lane street and the long project duration originally expected to last 30 months. The bridge expansion is part of the Build! Build! Build! Infrastructure Program. On April 23, 2021, DPWH announced the final concrete pouring and completion of the second bridge's substructure and superstructure. The bridge was expected to open in June 2021 but was delayed repeatedly due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, among other developments. President
Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...
inaugurated the newly expanded billion bridge on July 29, 2021, and it was reopened to vehicular traffic on the same day.


Traffic regulation

In September 2015,
Cabinet Secretary A cabinet secretary is usually a senior official (typically a civil servant) who provides services and advice to a cabinet of ministers as part of the Cabinet Office. In many countries, the position can have considerably wider functions and powe ...
Jose Rene Almendras announced that the government was looking into implementing a one-way traffic scheme on the Estrella–Pantaleon and Makati–Mandaluyong Bridges.


See also

*
List of crossings of the Pasig River This is a list of bridges and other crossings of the Pasig River in Metro Manila, Philippines. The crossings are listed in order, starting from the mouth at Manila Bay and proceeding upstream to its source at Laguna de Bay. As of , there are 2 ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estrella-Pantaleon Bridge Bridges in Metro Manila Truss bridges Buildings and structures in Makati Buildings and structures in Mandaluyong Bridges completed in 2011