NLEx traffic eases, nears normal after 8-hour gridlock

PULILAN, BULACAN, Philippines — Traffic along flood-hit sections of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) began to normalize, with motorists now facing only about 11 minutes of slow-moving traffic in the affected portions of Pampanga, NLEx Corp. said on Friday.

This was a significant improvement from Aug. 29, when motorists were stranded for nearly eight hours as floodwaters from upstream Nueva Ecija cascaded toward Pampanga and inundated portions of the expressway.

The 20-kilometer stretch from Pulilan, Bulacan, to San Fernando City, Pampanga, now takes about 40 minutes to traverse, compared with the usual 20 to 25 minutes.

In the Tulaoc area, Lanes 1 and 2 have dried up, while the remaining lanes still have about 1 inch of water southbound and 5 inches northbound.

READ: Flooded NLEx: An avertable catastrophe

In San Simon, about 3 inches of water remained on Lane 1 in both directions. The deepest portions had about 8 inches of water northbound and 11 inches southbound.

Barriers

NLEx Corp. continued to install flood barriers and lay sandbags while conducting water siphoning and other flood mitigation measures along the expressway.

READ: Slow-moving traffic along NLEx on Wednesday evening

As part of its long-term measures, the company said it would again raise the pavement along the northbound and southbound sections of Tulaoc.

NLEx previously raised the pavement by about 0.7 meters in 2023 to improve the expressway’s resilience against flooding.

In 2025, the Department of Public Works and Highways began elevating the Tulaoc Overpass Bridge to provide the vertical clearance needed.

The company also provided toll rebates to motorists affected by last weekend’s gridlock.

The rebate took effect at noon on Wednesday for motorists using the San Fernando-Pulilan stretch in both directions and will remain in effect until all lanes are passable to all vehicle classes.

Class 1 vehicles will receive a P113 rebate.

“We understand the difficulties experienced by motorists affected by the flooding in San Simon and Tulaoc, which is part of a wider emergency across Pampanga arising from the continuous Habagat rains resulting in elevated water levels at the Pampanga River,” the company said.

NLEx Corp. said the latest flooding was aggravated by the overflow of the Pampanga River, which affected the area’s ability to discharge excess water. /cb