Orientation
Even though Metro Manila is a metropolis of anywhere around 10 million, orientation is much easier than, for example, in Rome, Berlin, or other European cities. The reason is that Metro Manila has big arterial roads, but it lacks the many traffic capillaries. For a basic orientation one first must remember the main arterial roads. These are:
Roxas Boulevard (the "x" in Roxas is pronounced "h") leads along the seaside from Rizal Park all the way to Paranaque, where it is extended as the new Coastal Road which was built on reclaimed land and by-passes the whole southern end of Metro Manila. The dis-tance from Rizal Park to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport is 9.5 km (5.9 mi).
Taft Avenue starts in Baclaran, a big market area in Pasay City and conducts the traf-fic to the Pasig river where it splits into Rizal Ave and Quezon Blvd. The southern part of the Light Rail Transit system fol-lows Taft Ave. The distance from Lawton (now Liwasang Bonifacio) to Baclaran is 6.5 km (3.9 mi).
Rizal Avenue, commonly called Avenida, begins north of the Pasig river, and goes all the way north to Monumento, the Bonifacio Monument located at the central plaza of Caloocan City. The northern part of the Light Rail Transit system follows Rizal Ave. The distance from City Hall to Monumento is 7.8 km (4.8 miles).
Quezon Boulevard also starts north of the Pasig river, but leads northeast to the El-liptical Rd of Quezon City, the so-called government circle where many government departments and offices are located. The distance from Manila City Hall to Ellipti-cal Rd is 10 km (6.2 miles).
Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, commonly shortened to EDSA, is the longest avenue of all. It makes a half circle from Pasay City in the far south, to Caloocan City in the far north, via Makati and Quezon City.
The distance from Monumento to Baclaran is 22 km (13.6 miles).
South Superhighway begins at Quirino Ave and intersects Gil Puyat Ave (formerly Buendia Ave) and EDSA, bringing the traf-fic from central Manila to the south. It leads directly into the highway which goes to southern Luzon. Some southern residen-tial areas of the metropolis, such as Alabang, are along South Superhighway. The distance from Quirino Ave to EDSA is 4.6 km (2.8 mi).
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