Traffic builds up on road to Baguio

VILLASIS, Pangasinan—The volume of northbound vehicles traversing the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEx) started to increase on Wednesday due to the long Christmas holiday weekend, tollways operators said on Thursday.

The build-up in traffic was also observed along the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) by Thursday morning as motorists from Metro Manila started heading to the Ilocos provinces and Baguio City.

Traffic along the 63-km section of TPLEx from Tarlac City in Tarlac province to Urdaneta City in Pangasinan province has been manageable, said Tony Reyes, TPLEx marketing chief.

“Traffic buildup was observed in the Tarlac toll plaza but the waiting time was only 10 minutes,” Reyes said in a phone interview on Thursday.

Reyes said more lanes were opened and ambulant toll collectors were deployed to speed up travel.

“We expect this situation [to last] until the first week of January next year, when people return to Metro Manila,” he said.