The Santa Monica–Lawton Bridge, also known as the Kalayaan Bridge and Bonifacio Global City–Ortigas Link Bridge, is a four-lane, two-way bridge across 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 ...

that connects Lawton Avenue in the Embo barangays of Cembo and West Rembo in

Taguig Taguig (), officially the City of Taguig (), is the List of cities in the Philippines, fifth-most populous city in the Philippines situated on the eastern shores of Metro Manila, the national capital region. It is a center for culture, finance ...

to Fairlane Street (near Santa Monica Street to where the bridge is also named after) in barangays Kapitolyo and Pineda in

Pasig Pasig, officially the City of Pasig (), is a highly-urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the eastern border of Metro Mani ...

. The bridge spans , and its construction cost is as of 2017. The bridge also includes a viaduct that connects it to 8th Avenue in

Bonifacio Global City Bonifacio Global City, also known as BGC, Global City, or The Fort, is a 240-hectare mixed-use estate and central business district located in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig, Philippines. It is the home of the Philippine Stock Exchange, the national ...

. The bridge aims to decongest nearby thoroughfares like

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 ...

and

Circumferential Road 5 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 ...

and cut travel time between Taguig and Ortigas from 30 minutes or 1 hour to only 12 minutes. The bridge was partially opened on June 12, 2021, with the completion of its key component, the Kalayaan Bridge, while the Lawton Avenue – Global City Viaduct opened on October 1, signalling the full completion of the bridge. The bridge is currently passable to light vehicles only and does not allow full

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

access along the bridge.

History

The bridge was conceived only during the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte as Phase I of the Bonifacio Global City–Ortigas Link Road Project, which would connect the

to the

Ortigas Center Ortigas Center (also known as the Ortigas Central Business District or Ortigas CBD) is a central business district located within the joint boundaries of Pasig, Mandaluyong and Quezon City, within Metro Manila in the Philippines. With an area o ...

. The groundbreaking ceremony on the project took place as part of the Build! Build! Build! Infrastructure Program under the Duterte administration on July 19, 2017, marking the official start of construction. The project is handled by a joint venture of Persan Construction, Inc. and Sino Road and Bridge Group Company Ltd., with consultants DCCD Partners and Pertconsult International. Aside from the bridge itself, the construction project also includes improving access to the bridge by upgrading Brixton and Fairlane Streets on the Ortigas side and 8th Avenue on the BGC side. The bridge was originally expected to open in 2020 but was delayed until 2021 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 ...

. The main section of the bridge was inaugurated by top government officials on June 12, 2021, coinciding with the Philippine Independence Day commemorations. It partially opened to vehicles on the same day. The southbound lane to Lawton Avenue was made accessible to vehicles on the same day, while the northbound lane was accessible to vehicles the following day. The Lawton Avenue – Global City Viaduct was then inaugurated by 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 ...

on September 30, 2021, and was opened the next day.

Bridge layout

The bridge consists of a 4-lane main bridge spanning that connects Lawton Avenue in

to Fairlane Street in Kapitolyo,

, across the

, Taguig People's Park, and J. P. Rizal Avenue, known as the Kalayaan Bridge. It also includes the Lawton Avenue – Global City Viaduct, a 2-lane, viaduct that connects the main bridge to 8th Avenue in

, Taguig, across

Kalayaan Avenue Kalayaan Avenue is a major east–west route in Makati and Taguig, Metro Manila, Philippines. For most of its length, it runs parallel to J. P. Rizal Avenue to the north from East Rembo near Fort Bonifacio to Barangay Singkamas, Makati, Singka ...

Criticism

When the Santa Monica–Lawton Bridge was opened to traffic on June 12, 2021, the lack of pedestrian access immediately available upon its opening was criticized online. Furthermore, observations noted that pedestrians were also forced to use several flights of stairs located on both ends of the bridge instead of being able to walk along the bridge from end to end. The location and route of the bridge on the Mandaluyong and Pasig sides were also criticized for drawing and introducing traffic congestion onto the Kapitolyo neighborhood and the narrow Brixton Street in what an urban planner describes as "an example of

Braess's paradox Braess's paradox is the observation that adding one or more roads to a road network can slow down overall road traffic, traffic flow through it. The paradox was first discovered by Arthur Cecil Pigou, Arthur Pigou in 1920, and Stigler's law of ep ...

". On June 23, 2022, Binibining Cebu 2016 winner Raine Baljak posted a video on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

where she tried to walk from Bonifacio Global City to Mandaluyong on foot, in which

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

gave her directions to use the bridge, despite its narrow and incomplete sidewalk. As a result, the video went viral and sparked multiple online discussions on the quality of pedestrian infrastructure in the country.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Santa Monica-Lawton Bridge Pasig River Bridges completed in 2021 Bridges in Metro Manila Buildings and structures in Pasig Buildings and structures in Taguig

History

Bridge layout

Criticism

See also

References