The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) announced that the EDSA rehabilitation may start during the coming Holy Week as it dispensed with its original aim to start this by the end of March. In a press conference held after the joint meeting between the DPWH, Department of Transportation (DOTr), and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), DPWH Undersecretary Robert Bernardo said that the project is slated to begin by the second week of April. Transportation Secretary Vince Dizon said commuters must have a ton of patience during the rehabilitation of the approximately 24 kilometer road which is the main artery of Metro Manila. ''We have to be patient and endure this while the (rehabilitation of EDSA) is going on,'' he said Dizon said that plans for the EDSA rehabilitation are being finalized. “We are confident that within the next week we will present a final plan. We just need the inputs of the LGUs,” Dizon said. Dizon also announced that the EDSA Bus Carousel will not be closed, and that the bus lane will remain exclusive. MMDA chairperson Don Artes said rerouting plans and other interventions to help ease traffic that may arise out of the rehabilitation are being developed. “We talked with the LGUs to identify alternative routes, and to clear and maintain such routes,” Artes said. Yzabela Velez-White/DMS