DOTr: LRT-1 Cavite extension to have minimal effect on traffic

The oldest elevated railway system in Metro Manila will soon be ferrying commuters to and from Cavite.

After countless delays and setbacks, the Department of Transporation (DOTr) has announced that the LRT-1 extension project from Pasay City to Cavite began yesterday, May 7. The extension will span 21 km and will add 8 new stations from Baclaran.

With construction already underway, it's expected that traffic flow among the affected roads will worsen. However, the DOTr assured that the LRT-1 extension will have minimal effect on motorists. How so? Well, instead of actually building the girders on-site, the LRMC will build them off-site.

That's right, they will be utilizing a new building method called 'Full Span Girder Launching'. In a nutshell, this new method will allow LRMC to pre-cast concrete girder segments on their construction yard. After each one has been made and dried, they will then be brought to the worksite and placed on top of the columns.

According to the DOTr, this new method will be faster than traditional pre-casting methods. Aside from the fact that these girders will no longer have to be transported on-road, each girder will just have to be placed by special equipment in order to hasten construction.

The DOTr plans to have five of the eight stations to be operational by 2021. Once fully completed, the newly-extended LRT-1 will have nearly double the daily ridership of 458,000 to 800,000 commuters. Also, it is expected to reduce travel time between Cavite to Baclaran from 1 hour and 10 minutes to just 25 minutes.