One Friday, I traveled to Ortigas Center from Antipolo via the most direct route using Ortigas Avenue Extension. I was not surprised by the counterflow scheme being implemented starting from De Castro all the way to Rosario Bridge. I was also not surprised that the more congested lane was the counterflow lane. I thought everyone expected the main traffic lanes to be congested as PUVs like jeepneys, buses and vans usually create bottlenecks as they block traffic while passengers board/alight along that section of Ortigas Avenue Extension. Here is what you might encounter in terms of traffic if you opt to stay along the westbound traffic lanes:

Traffic before the Manggahan floodway bridge at what was generally called Mariwasa. The Filinvest residential development on the left used to be the Mariwasa tiles plant.

Traffic after the crossing the bridge. Note the pedestrian overpass in the photo.

Meters after and near the overpass, you can already see the build-up in the Rosario area

The Rosario bridge area is usually congested not just because of the PUV operations but also because there is the junction of Ortigas Avenue Extension and Amang Rodriguez Avenue, which is another major thoroughfare connecting this area to other parts of Pasig, Quezon City and Marikina City.

I will post about the counterflow scheme in Bangkok in the next post.

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