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 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-5). Most of the road is a 4-lane dual carriageway, with LRT Line 2 having five stations above ground and one ( Katipunan station) 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 ( C-5) near the Quezon City–Marikina boundary. It continues eastward to Rizal province as Marikina-Infanta Highway (commonly known as ''Marcos 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'' (Marikina Road, also called San Juan-Marikina Road), a small road built in 1900 to link Manila, San Juan del Monte (San Juan), and Mariquina (Marikina). The road, now known as N. Domingo Street, was named ''Calle N. Domingo'' after Nicolas Domingo, a ''relator'' (court reporter) of the Real Audiencia of Manila in 1898.

Before 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, where 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 (or 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. It is now occupied by Robinsons Magnolia, which got its name from the former ice cream parlor and factory.
Official website - Robinsons Magnolia
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Intersections

Landmarks

This is from west to east:

Quezon City

* Central Colleges of the Philippines
* Immaculate Heart of Mary College
* UERMMMC College of Medicine

San Juan

* J. Ruiz station

Quezon City

* Gilmore station
* St. Paul University Quezon City
* Robinsons Magnolia
* Betty Go-Belmonte station
* ACT Theater
* Cubao Elementary School
* Araneta City
** Gateway Mall
* Araneta Center–Cubao LRT station
* World Citi Colleges
* Diocesan Shrine of St. Joseph
* Anonas station
* Anonas City LRT center
* National College of Business and Arts
* Katipunan station

References

{{coord, 14, 37, 11, N, 121, 2, 45, E, type:landmark, display=title

Streets in Metro Manila
Bike lanes in Metro Manila