Road repairs, bad driving habits result in 5.5-hour gridlock on Quezon highway

LUCENA CITY, Philippines–Road repair projects and bad habits at the wheel stalled hundreds of vehicles for hours on the Maharlika Highway between Pagbilao and Atimonan towns in Quezon on Tuesday, with the line of non-moving vehicles stretching at least 10 kilometers at the height of the gridlock, police said.

“Instead of waiting for the signal of project flagmen, irresponsible drivers insisted to proceed against the flow of traffic using the other lane,” Chief Inspector Francis Pasno, Pagbilao police chief, told the Inquirer in a telephone interview.

He said angry motorists turned their ire on the helpless flagmen, forcing some of them to abandon their posts.

“What made the traffic worse were the pockets of road construction projects and the continuous rains that made the soft, muddy shoulders impassable,” Pasno said.

He said the long line of non-moving vehicles from Barangay (village) Malicboy in Pagbilao started to build up around 3 a.m. and by 8:30 a.m. it reached the Atimonan highway, a stretch of about 10 kilometers.

Pasno said he dispatched policemen to assist local law enforcers untangle the mess.

He said traffic began moving around noon Tuesday but at a turtle’s pace.