NLEX, SLEX eyeing barrier-less entry points by November, says Rep. Tulfo

TO PREVENT CONGESTION

The North and South Luzon Expressways (NLEX, SLEX) are eyeing to have barrier-less entry points by November to ease traffic jams, House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo said Thursday.
 
Tulfo said he learned of this after his meeting with toll operator officials earlier in the day — a meeting prompted by the heavy traffic at the expressways’ entry points last Holy Wednesday when a lot of Metro Manila residents went out of town for the Lenten break.

Tulfo said 87,000 vehicles used NLEX’s entry last Holy Wednesday, doubling the expressway’s ideal daily capacity of 40,000 to 43,000 vehicles per day. Of these vehicles, Tulfo said 5,000 had defective RFID stickers needed for scanning payments, while another 5,000 did not have enough toll load, resulting in massive gridlock.

“Pag wala lang load, they won’t let you go [and] the barrier stays in front of your vehicle. You need to have enough load for toll payment first,” Tulfo told reporters.

“Little did we know, they already have plans. They, SLEX and NLEX [management], are talking with TRB (Toll Regulatory Board) in coming up with barrier-less tollways starting aorund November. Wala na hong barrier diyan sa entry sa Balintawak [NLEX] and Nicholls [SLEX],” he added.

The barrier-less toll booths by November, Tulfo said, is only the first phase of the initiative.

“The second phase is the removal of barrier boom in exit points, as well as entry points going back to Metro Manila,” he said.

Tulfo, however, clarified that the removal of the barrier does not mean that using the expressways will be free of charge. He said toll operators will ask the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) to issue a department order so that those with insufficient load will be issued traffic violation tickets with corresponding fines.

“A Department Order will be enough [to implement this],” he said.

Likewise, Tulfo said Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation President Rogelio Singson said that an elevated expressway is under construction along NLEX from Balintawak to Bocaue, Bulacan to avoid bottlenecks in toll booths.

“The elevated expressway is from Balintawak to Bocaue because these are the areas that tend to experience bottlenecks at entry points,” he said.

The ACT-CIS party-list representative also said he was assured by toll operators that the initial RFID toll stickers and RFID toll readers in NLEX and SLEX have been replaced with high-quality ones manufactured in the United States to ensure efficiency.

Tulfo reminded motorists to have their defective RFID toll stickers replaced and that such replacement is free of charge.

“We really look forward to the barrier-less expressways by November,” he said. —KBK, GMA Integrated News