Toll operators gear up for Holy Week

EXPRESSWAY OPERATORS are now preparing for the expected traffic surge at major toll roads this Holy Week.

“Our instruction to our operations personnel is to make sure that our traffic management plans are in sync with the different towns and cities so that traffic flows smoothly along public roads. When public roads are congested, motorists along our carriageways are also affected as traffic can extend to the exits and onto the main line,” San Miguel Corp. (SMC) Chairman Ramon S. Ang said in a media release on Monday.

SMC, through SMC Infrastructure, said traffic management plans are in place for its tollways including Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), the Skyway System, NAIA Expressway, and the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).

SMC said it expects heavy traffic at interchanges linking its tollways to national highways and other expressways.

Further, Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. (MPTC), said it is anticipating up to 10% increase in traffic volume for the April 16-21 period.

“MPTC’s role during Holy Week goes beyond traffic management by taking measures towards ensuring a travel experience that’s safe, seamless, and reassuring,” MPTC President and Chief Executive Officer Jose Ma. K. Lim said in a media release last week.

MPTC has developed a strategy for providing assistance services and will increase the efficiency at its toll plaza.

MPTC is the tollways unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corp., one of three key Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific Co. Ltd., the others being Philex Mining Corp. and PLDT, Inc.

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