Travel up North seen deathly slow

SCTEx. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

URDANETA CITY – Travel to Baguio City and Ilocos provinces for All Saints’ Day is expected to be as slow as, if not slower than, a hearse as repair and construction of national roads that were started months ago have been delayed.

Rob Dix, a Briton who lives in Pangasinan, described as “ridiculous” a travel advisory urging motorists to take the Luisita exit of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) and to pass through Tarlac City as an alternative route to Baguio City.

“Don’t they realize the traffic jams in Tarlac, thanks to the Northern Builders [which is doing] the road work?” Dix said by text message to the Inquirer. Northern Builders is the contractor which is widening portions of the MacArthur Highway in Tarlac.

Dix urged the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to advise travelers to exit through Concepcion town and to take the road passing through La Paz and Victoria towns so they can avoid Tarlac City.

On Friday, Dix said he spent an hour along the MacArthur Highway from Hacienda Luisita to SM City in Tarlac City, a trip covering at least 16 kilometers and which normally takes only about 15 minutes.

“Is it too late to publish a warning to motorists to avoid Tarlac?” he said.

A DPWH official, however, said three of the Tarlac projects have been suspended in time for the influx of motorists for All Saints’ Day.

These are the construction of additional lanes for the Paniqui-Moncada, Tarlac City-Gerona and Bamban-Capas portions of the highway, said Antonio Molano Jr., DPWH Central Luzon director.

Once motorists hurdle Tarlac, however, they would endure extra 30 minutes on the road because of construction on highways in this Pangasinan city and Sison town.

The Urdaneta section of the road project covers 1.8 km and in Barangay Nancayasan, 1.6 km. DPWH said a 500-meter stretch still needs to be completed. The Sison section of the project spans 2 km, with only 500 m completed.

Emmanuel Diaz, OIC of the DPWH district office in Rosales town, said traffic has improved, but a bigger volume of vehicles would be a different story.

DPWH has coordinated with police and local governments to help ease traffic flow in these areas, he said.

The highway in Urdaneta has four lanes but only two are open because of the construction. Only a lane in a section of Sison is passable.

Diaz said the Urdaneta project was started on July 18 and was scheduled for completion on Dec. 30, earlier than the deadline stipulated in the contract which is March 3, 2012.

Motorists could also drive through the Magilas Trail, the Pangasinan highway that passes through Rosales, Sta. Maria, Asingan and Binalonan towns. The route, while longer, could help reduce travel time to Baguio City.

Urdaneta City administrator Ronald San Juan said the problem was worse during the four-day break in August when more motorists headed for Baguio.

Once travelers reach Baguio, the misery won’t end. Some of the city’s national roads are still under construction.

The climb through Kennon Road would be slow once motorists reach single lanes. Reports from Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Yolanda Sotelo and Desiree Caluza, Inquirer Northern Luzon