Laguna Lakeshore Road Network: What We Know So Far

[Lee]

 

Quote

 

A new highway is on the horizon, with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) pumping nearly $1.7 billion for its realization.

We're talking about this massive undertaking along Laguna de Bay: The Laguna Lakeshore Road Network Project (LLRN). Its aim is to create a faster route that will connect Metro Manila with Laguna Province via 37.5 kilometers of new roads, at least in the project's Phase 1. For motorists, this would mean peak-hour travel time from Taguig to Calamba could drop by 25%, saving you minutes—or maybe even an hour—on the road.

ADB Philippines Country Director Pavit Ramachandran said the expressway will "link people to jobs and business opportunities, reduce transport costs and traffic congestion, and improve the efficiency of the overall transport network in Metro Manila and nearby regions."

Approval for the project was finalized on November 7, 2024.

 

 

So what can we expect from the LLRN? According to ADB, about 3.47 million people living around Laguna Lake will get better access to everything from jobs to public services. The LLRN will be a toll-free highway with a lakeside promenade and a spacious three-meter-wide cycle track and sidewalk for pedestrians and cyclists.

Phase 1 (37.5 kilometers) will be along the west shoreline of Laguna de Bay, from Lower Bicutan, Taguig City to Muntinlupa, San Pedro, Biñan, Sta. Rosa, Cabuyao, and Calamba, Laguna; while Phase 2 (71.4 kilometers) will be along the eastern shoreline of Laguna de Bay, from Binangonan, Rizal to Calamba, Laguna.

The road will have nine interchanges at Binangonan, Morong, Tanay, Pililla North, Pililla South, Jala-Jala, Santa Cruz, Victoria/Calauan, and Los Baños.

 

 

Will the Laguna Lakeshore Road Network construction have an adverse affect on the lake?

While the creation of the road network may be good news to some, the ADB  announcement was also met with negative reactions on social media, some from netizens worried about how it will affect the surrounding marine life in the area.

The LLRN has been classified as Category A due to the "anticipated significant adverse environment." The project data sheet mentions the following risks: "Dredging activities risk the resuspension and contaminant release to the lake waters. The embankment road's construction also increases the risk of flooding along the lakeshore. Noise and vibration impacts, particularly during construction and operation stages will impact the residential and commercial structures near the slip and connecting roads."

But these, says the ADB, have been taken into consideration in the project design. The ADB is putting a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) in place, promising no net loss of biodiversity by using materials like silt curtains and noise walls to keep nature intact. Dredging techniques will also be eco-friendly, they claim, while hydrodynamic modeling will prevent any extra flooding along Laguna Lake’s shores.

The project, according to the ADB project data sheet, has allotted $35.6 million to making the expressway resilient to climate change, with elevated viaducts and lakeside embankments to handle extreme weather and rising sea levels.

In terms of what’s actually at stake for local communities, the project will require land from over 1,000 families, which means around 4,757 people may be affected. To handle this, ADB and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) have come up with a Resettlement Framework to make sure those impacted are fairly compensated.

ADB’s $1.7 billion funding will cover about 30 kilometers of the project, including bridges and viaducts over key waterways. The remaining eight-kilometer stretch will be backed by a $904 million loan from the Export–Import Bank of Korea. ADB’s own support comes via a two-part loan: $1.2 billion in the first round, then another $509.5 million later. Plus, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is chipping in an extra $188.2 million.

The LLRN joins other big-ticket projects that ADB’s been funding in addition to the Malolos–Clark Railway, North-South Commuter Railway, and Bataan–Cavite Bridge.

https://www.msn.com/en-ph/lifestyle/other/laguna-lakeshore-road-network-what-we-know-so-far/ar-AA1tRvim?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=dadc88258e77401ed19da7d5553fbdba&ei=22

 

 

[JJReyes]

The idea of a road network around Laguna de Bay has been proposed ever since I was a teenager.  Still waiting.

[Lee]

5 hours ago, Lee said:

The LLRN will be a toll-free highway with a lakeside promenade and a spacious three-meter-wide cycle track and sidewalk for pedestrians and cyclists.

Is this really necessary? Who is going to walk or cycle around the lake that in most places is in terrible condition?

Paralysed by growth: A lake under siege

“When I was a boy, the lake was beautiful,” Bernardo San Juan says. “In the early 70s we would picnic here and swim in the lake. We would just bring a pot and some rice, we would catch fish to cook and drink the lake water. Today, it’s a different story…”

Today, in fact, the lake is hardly visible. Instead, vast swathes of the water around the lakeside Filipino town of Cardarno are a sea of green, fish pens and navigation channels alike clogged by an impenetrable mass of water hyacinth.

“You can see we are paralysed right now,” Bernardo, Cardano’s mayor says. “We are a fishing town – can you imagine the effect of that on our daily lives? Almost all the population are in the fishing industry – we don’t have any factories here. That is the source of our living.”

With the town’s fishing port blocked and navigation at a standstill, a ‘State of Calamity’ has been declared in Cardona. While authorities work to clear the weeds choking the town, its fishing fleet stands idle and transport to and from the island of Talim, home to half Cardona’s 50,000 people, has ground to a halt.

“Right now they are isolated – they are totally isolated. Because the only way to get to them is by boat. It’s stopped more than 90 per cent of the transport to and from the island. The little boats just can’t get through.”

“It’s a perennial problem,” Mayor Bernado says ruefully. “A perennial problem we could have controlled.”

 

 

 

While agricultural and industrial runoff both have a role to play in the lake’s declining health, the biggest contributor to eutrophication – and thus the water hyacinth bloom paralysing Cardona – is human waste. Specifically the domestic waste and untreated sewage that flows into the lake daily from the more than 12 million inhabitants of the 29 towns and hundreds of informal settlements that ring its shores.

 

Read more.  https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/paralysed-growth-lake-under-siege

[Possum]

The money would be better spent on waste water treatment. Until then who wants to promenade around a cesspool?

The city of almost 300,000 where I live, like most cities has no waste water treatment. All goes into the ocean.

[Tommy T.]

I lived aboard my yacht on Samal Island for three years. I was appalled to see that the sewage from the toilets at the marina drained directly into the marina waters. Then L wonders why I won't enter the water at any of the resorts on the island or anywhere around Davao City?

[OnMyWay]

6 hours ago, Tommy T. said:

Then L wonders why I won't enter the water at any of the resorts on the island or anywhere around Davao City?

It should be fine if you take precautions.