Life for people living in the south and working in Metro Manila’s central business district has been absolute hell for months now. That, of course, is due to the Skyway extension project being carried out in the Alabang area of the South Luzon Expressway. Traffic has been so horrendous that friends and readers alike have taken to sending us photos of the gridlock every morning, many of them claiming to spend as much as four hours on the road just to drive from Santa Rosa to Makati, for instance.

In mid-October, San Miguel Corporation president Ramon S. Ang boldly declared: “By December 1st, traffic on both northbound and southbound SLEX will ease up. I promise you that.” His company’s construction division, SMC Infrastructure, is in charge of the Skyway Stage 3 project.

Today, the Department of Transportation and SMC Infrastructure formally opened the new Skyway ramp in Alabang, and also reopened the Skyway’s third lane that was temporarily closed in order for the section to be completed. According to the DOTr, construction commenced only in September this year but was prioritized and rushed as per agreement between government and SMC.

This latest Skyway extension adds four lanes in the Sucat-to-Alabang section of the elevated thoroughfare. Transport officials are optimistic that SLEX traffic will “ease considerably” as a result of this development.

The real test will be seen tomorrow, December 2nd. Not only is it the first working day of the week, but it’s also the first Monday of the notoriously busy Christmas month. Let us know how it goes, dear friends from the south?