Aurora Boulevard
Aurora Boulevard is a four-to-ten lane major thoroughfare in Quezon City and San Juan in Metro Manila, Philippines. It was 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. 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 (C.P. Garcia Avenue) (C-5). Most of the road is a 4-lane dual carriageway, with Line 2 having five stations above ground, while one (Katipunan station) is 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 the City of 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 (C.P. Garcia Avenue) (C-5) near the Quezon City–Marikina boundary. It continues eastward to Rizal province as Marikina-Infanta Highway (or still more commonly known as Marcos Highway).

The entire span of the 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 own bike lane network, with the segment from EDSA to Katipunan Avenue having  painted buffer zones on both sides of the bicycle lanes.

History

The origins of the boulevard can be traced back to the Camino de Mariquina (Marikina Road, also called San Juan-Marikina Road), a small road built in 1900 linking Manila, San Juan del Monte (San Juan), and Mariquina (Marikina). The road, now known as N. Domingo Street, was then named Calle N. Domingo after Nicolas Domingo, a relator (court reporter) of the Real Audiencia of Manila in 1898.

Prior to 1945, Calle Santa Mesa (Santa Mesa Boulevard, now Magsaysay Boulevard) was extended eastwards from its intersection with Santol Street, crossing the San Juan River and absorbing part of a street in San Juan. The extension was classified as part of Highway 53 and was named the Santa Mesa Boulevard Extension. It was also named Calle Morales after the name of the street in San Juan that it absorbed. Eventually, the Santa Mesa Boulevard Extension intersects with N. Domingo Street, wherein the remaining sections of N. Domingo Street 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 and also as the Manila Provincial Road. In 1963, the road was renamed Aurora Boulevard (as it is known today) to honor the former First Lady Aurora Quezon, the assassinated consort 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, now occupied by Robinsons Magnolia that got its name from the former ice cream parlor and factory.

Intersections

References

Streets in Metro Manila
Bike lanes in Metro Manila