New Candaba viaduct open by Holu Week — NLEX
THE operator of North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) has assured the House of Representatives that the highway’s 6.8-kilometer Candaba viaduct will be fully operational in time for the Holy Week next month.
In the inter-agency consultative meeting presided over by Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., the NLEX Corp. officials assured the public of smooth traffic for their vacation.
“We will finish retrofitting the southbound lane of the viaduct next month. All lanes of NLEX will be open for Holy Week,” NLEX Corp. vice president Jennifer Jane Go told the meeting.
Gonzales welcomed the NLEX officials statement and lauded the operator for fulfilling their responsibilities.
“That’s good news to my constituents and my kabalen in Pampanga, and to thousands of motorists who traditionally go to tourism and vacation sites in northern Luzon throughout the Lenten period, and to those from the north who will drive to Metro Manila and southern Luzon,” Gonzales said.
As was the case in the past, he said NLEX would be congested with vehicles due to the Holy Week exodus even with all lanes passable.
For months now, the expressway operator-concessionaire has been retrofitting the Candaba viaduct. To give way to the repairs, one southbound lane is closed, while one lane on the northbound side serves as a counterflow lane for southbound vehicles.
In the meeting, NLEX Corp. officials led by senior vice president Romulo Quimbo said the construction of the third Candaba viaduct would begin in May and would be completed by December next year.
He said the third bridge would be built in between the two current long southbound and northbound spans.
He said NLEX Corp. has already awarded the contract for the additional bridge to international contractor Leighton Asia.
