The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) assured on Tuesday that the EDSA Bus Carousel will remain operational during the EDSA rehabilitation.
The DPWH said it will be temporarily relocated to an adjacent lane, while EDSA bus stations remain open for commuters.
"Once the closed segments from the first lane are fully rehabilitated, the EDSA bus lane will move back to its original lane to accommodate its regular operations," the DPWH-National Capital Region (NCR) said.
"On the other hand, the construction works will move to the second lane from the EDSA bus lane up to the outer lane, one at a time," it added.
The rehabilitation of the southbound portion of EDSA, which will have 15 segments, will start as soon as the funds are released, according to the DPWH-NCR.
Repairs at the northbound lane will be from Balintawak to Monumento, which will cost P300 million. Meanwhile, similar works at the southbound segments will start from Monumento to Roxas Boulevard, which will cost about P7 billion.
To minimize further disruption to traffic flow, the rehabilitation works will be done 24 hours a day to fast-track the activities and completion, it added.
The agency also reminded motorists to expect potential traffic slowdowns in the affected areas and urged them to use other lanes during the repair period.
According to the DPWH-NCR, it sees the EDSA rehabilitation as the long-term solution to the problems of frequent pothole patching and damaged pavements in EDSA by using reinforced concrete to strengthen road integrity against the high volume of vehicles.
Road works in EDSA will include asphalt overlay and improvement of its drainage system through the installation of HDPE pipes.
The rehabilitation, which was originally scheduled to start this month, is expected to be completed this year.
An average of 454,000 vehicles used EDSA daily in 2024, according to the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority. This is nearly double the highway's carrying capacity of 250,000 vehicles.