Aurora Boulevard


Aurora Boulevard is a four-to-ten-lane major thoroughfare in Quezon City and San Juan in Metro Manila, Philippines. It is named after Doña Aurora Quezon, the consort of Commonwealth President Manuel Luis Quezon. It is one of the major roads in the commercial district of Araneta City in Cubao. LRT [Line 2 (Metro Manila)|LRT Line 2] follows the alignment of the boulevard.

Route description

Aurora Boulevard is divided into two routes: the segment from G. Araneta Avenue to EDSA and EDSA to Katipunan Avenue. Most of the road is a 4-lane dual carriageway, with LRT Line 2 having five stations above ground and one located underground.
Aurora Boulevard starts as a physical extension of Ramon Magsaysay Boulevard past the intersection with Araneta Avenue near the Manila–Quezon City boundary. It then enters San Juan before crossing Ermitaño Creek near Broadway Centrum to return to Quezon City, this time at the New Manila district. It then intersects Gilmore Avenue, Balete Drive, and E. Rodriguez Sr. Avenue before it meets EDSA.
Past EDSA, it passes near the Araneta City Complex in Cubao. The road continues eastward through the barangays of Silangan, Quirino 3-A, and Duyan-Duyan until it ends at Katipunan Avenue near the Quezon City–Marikina boundary. It continues eastward to Rizal province as Marikina-Infanta Highway.
The entire road and its continuations have Class II paint-separated one-way bike lanes as part of the national government's Metropolitan [Bike Lane Network]. The segments within Quezon City are integrated with the city's bike lane network, with the segment from EDSA to Katipunan Avenue having painted buffer zones on both sides of the bicycle lanes.

History

The boulevard's origins can be traced back to the Camino de Mariquina, a small road built in 1900 to link Manila to the western Manila province municipalities of San Juan del Monte and Mariquina. The road was named Calle N. Domingo after Nicolas Domingo, a relator of the Real Audiencia of Manila in 1898.
Before 1945, Calle Santa Mesa was extended eastwards from its intersection with Santol Street, crossing the San [Juan River (Metro Manila)|San Juan River] and absorbing majority of Calle Morales in San Juan and 2nd Street in New Manila Subdivision, Quezon City. The extension was classified as part of Highway 53 and was named the Santa Mesa Boulevard Extension. It was named Calle Morales after the old street in San Juan that it absorbed. Eventually, the Santa Mesa Boulevard Extension intersects with N. Domingo Street, whose remaining sections from present-day EDSA to present-day Katipunan Avenue were absorbed by the extension.
By 1955, the Santa Mesa Boulevard Extension was known as Marikina-Ermita Avenue. In 1963, the road was renamed Aurora Boulevard to honor the former First Lady Aurora Quezon, the assassinated wife of former Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon. The Magnolia Ice Cream House ice cream parlor and factory once stood at the corner of Aurora Boulevard and Doña Hemady Street. It is now occupied by Robinsons Magnolia, which got its name from the former ice cream parlor and factory.

Intersections

Landmarks

This is from west to east:

Quezon City