NLEX, SCTEX, Cavitex Ready for 'Undas'

The Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC)--the holding company and concessionaire of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), and Cavite Expressway (Cavitex)--has announced its readiness for the three expressways for the forthcoming All Saints’ Day holiday.

The said holiday in the Philippines is expected to cram expressways going to provinces as an influx of 10-15 percent volume of traffic will be expected to use the infrastructures and facilities.

During the press conference for the 'Safe Trip Mo Sagot Ko' (SMSK) motorist assistance program, MPTC noted the traffic improvement initiatives and bared preparations for the 'Undas' break to highlight its preparedness to handle the expected increase in traffic volume.

Romulo 'Junjie' Quimbo Jr., senior vice president for communication and stakeholder management, said that prior to the holiday, 11 more exclusive RFID lanes were made available at NLEX, six of which are located at the Bocaue Barrier and five at the Balintawak Barrier, increasing the total number of exclusive electronic toll collection lanes to 40.

He also noted that since October 15, EasyTrip RFID drive-thru reloading lanes have been opened for Class 1 or light vehicles at lane NO4 in Balintawak and lane X06 in Bocaue, from 5:00 AM to 9:00 PM.

To further update motorists of the traffic information ahead, additional variable message boards will be installed by November this year at NLEX Bocaue southbound and Pulilan northbound and southbound.

For its SMSK efforts, NLEX and SCTEX traffic operations personnel will closely monitor and manage the anticipated influx of motorists in the Balintawak, Mindanao Avenue, Bocaue, Sta. Ines, Tarlac, and Tipo toll plazas from October 25 to November 4. Additional patrol and incident response teams will be placed in strategic areas to immediately assist motorists.

Speed and lane management teams will also be on heightened alert to enforce traffic discipline for road safety.

On the peak periods of October 26-28, 30-31 and November 1-2, the Balintawak Toll Plaza will open a maximum of 24 toll collection points while Mindanao Avenue, Tarlac, and Tipo toll plazas will open a maximum of 10, 15, and 6 toll collection points, respectively, to lessen motorist waiting time at the toll plazas.

From November 1 to 4, the Bocaue Toll Barrier will have a maximum of 55 collection points for Manila-bound motorists. Toll tellers at the Tarlac Toll Plaza will be ready to issue pre-encoded transit tickets to motorists for faster transactions.

During the same period, CAVITEX will deploy more patrol teams to manage the traffic and assist motorists.

Construction along the mainline road at the NLEX-SCTEX-CAVITEX will be suspended from October 24 to November 4, 9:00 AM, unless safety repairs are necessary.

MPTC and its partners will also set up SMSK Motorist Camps and provide free calls, Wi-Fi, drinking water, basic mechanic services and first aid treatment at designated locations along the expressways.

The SMSK will also offer 24-hour free towing services to the nearest exit for Class 1 vehicles from October 30, 6:00 AM, to November 4, 6:00 AM.

Real-time traffic situation will be posted on the Facebook accounts of NLEX Corporation and CAVITEX (Official) from October 30 to November 4. Hotlines (NLEX-SCTEX:1-35000; CAVITEX:165-8888; CAVITEX C5 LINK: 1-5000) will likewise be ready to address customer concerned.