The two existing viaducts or bridges over portions of Candaba and San Simon towns in Pampanga province. (Contributed photo)
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — The Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PamCham) has asked Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) Corp., to consider redesigning the Third Candaba Viaduct.
Renato Romero, director of PamCham’s infrastructure development committee, made the appeal in a Dec. 7 letter after NLEX Corp. executives confirmed in a Dec. 5 meeting the start of construction of the new viaduct in January 2023.
The Tollway Regulatory Board has reportedly approved the P9-billion project, which will be completed in 23 months by Leighton.
Called the first and second viaducts or bridges over portions of Candaba and San Simon towns in Pampanga, the north- and south-bound lanes have been undergoing repairs since July 2022.
The third viaduct, to be built between the two existing lanes, was “specifically intended for heavier trucks,” Romero said in the letter that raised a “safety concern.”
“Some of our members expressed apprehension over the potential danger and obstruction to traffic that can be caused by heavier and slower trucks, normally at the outer lanes of the expressway, crossing and changing lanes to get on and off the inner viaduct,” he said.
PamCham urged a study on the possibility of “constructing two outer single lane bridges, one northbound and one southbound, alongside the two existing viaducts.”
“From an ordinary motorist’s point of view, traffic will be smooth and seamless because slow, heavier vehicles, like trucks and cargo vans, will remain on the outermost lanes both on and off the viaducts,” Romero added.