TPLEx speeds up travel to North, but gridlock greets Baguio tourists

MONCADA, Philippines—Travel time from Balintawak in Quezon City to Rosales town in Pangasinan province will now take only a little over two hours with the opening of a section of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx).

“This is a very big thing [for travelers heading north],” said Mark Dumol, president of Private Infrastructure Development Corp., operator of the expressway and a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp.

The TPLEx, which when completed will stretch to Rosario town in La Union province, initially opened a section to Gerona town and later to Paniqui town in Tarlac province last year.

At that time, travel time from Barangay (village) Carmen in Rosales to Balintawak via the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) took three hours.

“I think tourism in the north will get a big boost. Our traffic here has been growing very strong,” Dumol said.

He said tourist destinations north of Rosales—such as Baguio City, the surfing town of San Juan in La Union and the pilgrimage town of Manaoag in Pangasinan—would now be more accessible.

Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr., who joined the motorcade from Moncada to Victoria town in Tarlac, said the new road would also benefit farmers and traders in Pangasinan. “Our products will now reach Metro Manila faster,” Espino said.

Dumol said the newly opened TPLEx section was connected to Magilas Trail, a road that spans Sta. Maria town to Binalonan town.

He said travelers going to Baguio and the Ilocos provinces could bypass the town of Villasis and Urdaneta City by taking Magilas Trail.

In Baguio City, the summer capital’s tourism industry expects the newly opened TPLEx stretch to bring in more tourists.

But they should expect traffic slowdown once they reach the city, said a leader of an organization of local hotels and restaurants.

Anthony de Leon, president of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio, urged city officials to improve traffic plans, given the traffic jams that have been plaguing sections of Baguio since Monday.

Traffic flow is also expected to slow down in Villasis, Binalonan, Pozorrubio and Sison and Urdaneta City in Pangasinan because of road-widening projects.

Dumol said the TPLEx was expected to be completed by December 2015. “But it’s going to depend a lot on right-of-way acquisition. I’m not sure how it will go. Actually, our immediate target is to open up to Urdaneta by December this year. We are acquiring the right-of-way now and we already have 10 out of 12 kilometers [needed],” he said.

He said the TPLEx section from Paniqui to Rosales would be toll-free for a month. He also assured motorists of the TPLEx’s safety. He said the TPLEx had four patrol vehicles, four motorcycles and an ambulance.

The Taal overpass along the NLEx was closed to heavy vehicles after a section was accidentally smashed by a tower crane on Tuesday, said Rodrigo Franco, president of Manila North Tollways Corp.

A bus also hit the crane, injuring four of its passengers. The crane was being ferried by a truck along the northbound lane at around 5 p.m. when it struck the bridge, triggering a two-hour gridlock.  Gabriel Cardinoza, Inquirer Northern Luzon, with reports from Carmela Reyes-Estrope, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon