Taft Avenue


Taft Avenue is a major road in southern Metro Manila. It passes through three cities in the metropolis: Manila, Pasay, and Parañaque. The road was named after the former Governor-General of the Philippines and U.S. President William Howard Taft; the Philippines was a former commonwealth territory of the United States in the first half of the 20th century from 1898-1946. The avenue is a component of National Route 170, a secondary road in the Philippine highway network and Radial Road 2 of the Manila arterial road network.

Route description

From the north, Taft Avenue starts as an eight-lane avenue, with four lanes per direction, at the Lagusnilad vehicular underpass at its intersection with Padre Burgos Avenue in Ermita. It then crosses Ayala Boulevard and Finance Street and forms the eastern edge of Rizal Park up to Kalaw Avenue. It then crosses United Nations Avenue, Padre Faura Street, Pedro Gil Street, San Andres Street, Quirino Avenue, and Pablo Ocampo Street. Past Pablo Ocampo, it narrows to four lanes, with two lanes per direction, before entering the city of Pasay. In Pasay, it crosses Gil Puyat Avenue, Arnaiz Avenue, and Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, where the intersection is known as Pasay Rotonda and where National Route 170 terminates. The avenue then continues south towards Baclaran in Parañaque as Taft Avenue Extension up to its terminus at its intersection with Elpidio Quirino Avenue, Harrison Street, and Redemptorist Road.

Rizal Park

One of Rizal Park's three entrances, the Taft Avenue entrance is adjacent to the National Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Anthropology, and the Statue of the Sentinel of Freedom.

History

Construction of this avenue, originally called Calle Rizal, was completed in 1899, with Calle Padre Burgos as its northern terminus and Calle Herran as its southern terminus. Engineers Manny Aquino and Robin Santos led its extension in 1911, and the avenue was renamed Manila Road. However, a map of Manila produced in 1915 by the Office of Department Engineer, Philippine Department, indicates it was named Taft Avenue. At the height of World War II, during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, it was renamed Daitoa Avenue in 1942. The avenue's portion from Padre Burgos to Herran was also one of the right-of-way alignments of tranvía that existed until 1945.
Having previously ended at Calle San Andres in Malate, it was later extended towards Calle Vito Cruz in 1940. It was extended towards Pasay, then part of the province of Rizal, and was named Ermita-Pasay Boulevard or Highway 50. The route continued past Highway 54 as Cavite-Manila South Road or Manila South Road. Afterwards, the avenue's section from EDSA to Baclaran became Taft Avenue Extension.
LRT [Line 1 (Metro Manila)|LRT Line 1], the first elevated rail track in the Philippines, was built over it and opened in 1984.

Proposed renaming to Senator Jose W. Diokno Avenue

In 1998, bills to rename Taft Avenue to Senator Jose W. Diokno Avenue, after the former senator and nationalist, were authored in the House of Representatives and Senate, respectively. Senator Franklin Drilon later filed Senate Bill No. 2011 in 2002; it was passed on the second reading in January 2004. Manila local officials, led by Mayor Lito Atienza, opposed the passage, arguing that William Howard Taft was a "key figure in the history" of the Philippines and of Manila for establishing a civil government in the country. Additionally, they contended that the move contradicted a Manila city ordinance passed in 1998 or 1999, which disallows the renaming of streets.
Later, on June 30, 2004, Senator Sergio Osmeña III authored Senate Bill No. 497, another Senate Bill seeking to rename Taft Avenue to Senator Jose W. Diokno Avenue. However, the bill is still pending in the Committee as of August 2004. Moreover, a road in Bay City in Pasay and Parañaque has already been named Jose W. Diokno Boulevard.

Landmarks

This shows landmarks starting from north to south:

Manila

Pasay

Transportation

Taft Avenue can be accessed through jeepneys, taxis, buses, UV Express, the LRT Line 1, and the MRT Line 3. The avenue houses some LRT Line 1 stations: Baclaran on Taft Avenue Extension, EDSA, Libertad, Gil Puyat, Vito Cruz, Quirino, Pedro Gil, and United Nations.