The stalled rehabilitation of the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) will start in January — not yet the full overhaul, but an initial step that puts long-neglected sidewalks and commuter safety at its center.

In an interview with reporters on Monday morning, Public Works Secretary Vince Dizon said the agency will kick off repairs early next year, targeting both road sections and pedestrian infrastructure. 

“By January, we will have already begun the repair of EDSA. This is not yet the full rehabilitation but we will already start and we will include the sidewalk,” Dizon said.

“Hopefully by that time we will already have a faster methodology so that our implementation of EDSA repairs will be fast,” he added. 

Dizon stressed that the push to restore EDSA must start with the spaces commuters actually use every day. 

The Departments of Transportation (DOTr) and Public Works and Highways (DPWH), together with the Move As One Coalition, conducted an early-morning joint inspection of EDSA to assess the daily challenges faced by commuters, pedestrians, and cyclists.

The activity sought to evaluate current on-ground conditions and identify urgent infrastructure needs.

“I want to see the state of the sidewalks because that is the responsibility of the DPWH and so that PWD commuters will have convenience,” he said.

The full rehabilitation of EDSA, originally set to begin this year, has been pushed back as authorities seek to shorten the construction period to about six months by changing the project’s methodology and minimizing lane closures.

“There is no technology partner yet. There are those proposing but what is important now is that we first see the sidewalk because it cannot be that the focus is always on cars when we talk about roads,” Dizon added.

Funding for the plan has been set aside, though Dizon noted that earlier cost estimates were excessive. 

“Previously, what they wanted as a budget for (EDSA) was P15 billion but that is too big and if we can do it faster, the price will go down,” he said.

The earlier proposal placed the full upgrade at P15 billion, including P8.7 billion for the first year alone, with works planned to proceed lane by lane.