Chaos erupts along SLEX as lane closure due to roadworks causes intense heavy traffic
“If you live south of the metro and you use the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) regularly, then you understand how fast northbound traffic builds up during rush hours and how bad it can actually get. This morning, however, was a different story: The northbound traffic was at a whole new level.
“If you’re not familiar with this situation, then here’s a bit of context: The bottleneck on the Alabang flyover causes buildup along the northbound lane that can stretch to as far as Southwoods in Laguna, which would then take about 30 minutes to an hour to get through—and that’s on a good day.
“Earlier today, the traffic reached up to the Santa Rosa interchange—roughly 6km farther south from where the crawl usually begins. The cause? Well, you can just check out the official announcement from the SLEX management below:
“Effective 10pm last night, a section along the northbound lane near the Alabang off-ramp was closed off for the Skyway Extension project, which then caused the usual heavy traffic to increase exponentially. At some point in the afternoon, the buildup reached up to as far as the ETON exit.”
PNR completes inspection trip from Tutuban in Manila to Naga in Bicol and back
“You may recall that the Philippine National Railways (PNR) began conducting test runs and clearing operations last week in preparation for the opening of the Metro South Commuter Train’s 25th station in Los Baños. The said train previously ran from Tutuban to Calamba, and will now soon see its route reach deeper into the province of Laguna.
“That’s not the end of it, though, because the Department of Transportation (DOTr) reports that the PNR has also recently conducted an inspection trip that left Manila for Bicol on September 20 and returned to the metro on September 23. The return trip from Naga to Tutuban took only 12 hours and 44 minutes in total—or three hours faster than the usual trip across the same route.”
Manila City orders abolition of MTRO
“The Manila City government made quite the announcement today, as it called for the abolition of the Manila Tricycle Regulatory Office (MTRO).
“According to a report by Inquirer.net, city mayor Isko Moreno stated the order during a recent flag-raising ceremony. ‘I’m asking the vice mayor for today’s session to abolish MTRO. I hope Vice Mayor Lacuna and the members of the city council, I want you to abolish the entire MTRO,’ said Moreno.
“The MTRO governs the franchising and regulation of the tricycles within the City of Manila. The mayor’s order was a result of alleged corruption within the agency.”
