Holiday rush: Road crashes cause 5-hour gridlock in Nueva Vizcaya

BAMBANG, Nueva Vizcaya — Thousands of commuters and motorists rushing home from the Christmas break were stranded for at least five hours on the road here on Monday following multiple vehicular collisions.

A Victory Liner bus, a trailer truck and a Suzuki mini van were involved in a smashup on Indiana bridge, which has been undergoing repair since last year.

No one was injured but the wreckage blocked the bridge and caused long lines of stranded vehicles that stretched for 10 kilometers on both the northbound and southbound lanes, police said.

Missed flight

Because of the gridlock, Genia Espejo, 42, and her three fellow overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) failed to catch their flight to Dubai at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City on Tuesday morning.

“OFWs like us left the country hoping to find a better life abroad, but only to be caught up again in this pathetic state of roads in our country,” Espejo said.

Many buses were bound for Metro Manila. Light vehicles were diverted to an alternate road to the inner towns of Dupax del Norte and Dupax del Sur, a route that takes 10 km longer.

Police said the van suddenly stopped because the driver was startled by the road hazard sign on the bridge, causing a chain reaction. The bus rammed the back of the trailer truck and the van in its front.

Bridge repair

The crashes may have been avoided if the ongoing bridge work had ample road warnings, according to PO2 Michael Barrientos, a police investigator.

“We hear a lot of people complaining and getting frustrated about how (the bridge repair) has taken this long,” he said.

The 126-meter Indiana bridge is being widened through a P160-million allocation being carried out by the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) through winning contractor, Northern Builders Inc.

It was due for completion in July but remained only 50-percent finished, based on latest DPWH data.

“The contractor has asked for a modification of the design after it encountered a lot of difficulties with the project. To our mind, this shows lack of technical expertise to carry out bridge construction,” said Jose Tobias Jr., DPWH regional construction chief.

But Nelson Bautista, project manager for Northern Builders, said his crew made sure that they had cleared both lanes of the bridge to allow for the expected heavy flow of traffic during the holidays. —Melvin Gascon