Firm blames too many vehicles going to North

MANILA, Philippines–The “overwhelming” number of vehicles caused the massive traffic jams along highways leading to popular vacation spots, like Baguio and other parts of northern Luzon in recent days, a toll road official said on Sunday.

Toll roads like North Luzon Expressway (NLEx), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) saw heavy vehicular traffic, especially on Dec. 26, reports said.

“It was really just our capacity being overwhelmed by the volume of vehicles,” Rodrigo Franco, president of NLEx operator Manila North Tollways Corp, said in an interview.

The NLEx typically handles more than 180,000 vehicles per day and the figure shoots up to about 220,000 vehicles during the peak of the Christmas holidays. But on Dec. 26, “preliminary” data showed that volume hitting 252,000 vehicles, Franco said.

“Traffic really went beyond what we normally get during that time,” Franco said, adding that the buildup happened at the tollbooths.

He said most of the congestion was felt at the Dau tollbooth in Pampanga province.

Franco was speaking for the company led by businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan, which operates both NLEx and SCTEx.

San Miguel Corp, the main group behind TPLEx, said it might issue a statement Monday, a company spokesperson said.

The management of TPLEx recently opened the 13.66-kilometer Rosales-Urdaneta stretch in Pangasinan province.

It said this was available to motorists starting Dec. 20 to Jan. 20, 2015, to ease traffic flow to and from northern Luzon during the holidays.

Free of charge

Private Infra Development Corp. (PIDC), a unit of diversified San Miguel Corp. and operator of the TPLEx, said the use of the new section would be free of charge during the period.

In 2013, the company opened the first section (Tarlac City to Paniqui) of the total 88-km TPLEx project for motorists’ free use during the Christmas season. It then soft-opened the Paniqui-Rosales section in time for the Holy Week in April.

With the opening of the new section, the total length of the TPLEx that has been made operational in just over a year, will reach 63 kilometers, according to PIDC.

It expects to fully complete the project, running to Rosario town, La Union province, in 2015.