From a harrowing journey to the same hellish trip. Motorists driving through the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) on the northbound and southbound lanes had an appalling experience in the past two weeks.
A small flooded portion of the NLEX along the San Simon stretch approaching the Tulaoc Bridge had stalled hundreds of vehicles, resulting in a traffic buildup that stretched to as long as 22 kilometers on both sides.
Vehicles were running at five to 10 kilometers per hour after an overflow from the Pampanga River flooded the tiny stretch and rendered it impassable for some small cars and vehicles. The floodwater had risen to as high as 40 cm or almost 16 inches, forcing traffic at some point to stop. It’s one nightmare for motorists. It took travelers two to six hours to navigate the San Fernando-San Simon stretch on the southbound road and the Pulilan-San Simon stretch on the other side. This road strip normally takes just 10 to 15 minutes of travel time.
I had the same unfortunate experience as the other NLEX motorists. It took me two hours to finish the tiny flooded portion of the southbound road on July 31. Driving north over the next weekend, I took the advice of a motorist group to exit in Pulilan and head to Mac Arthur Highway until the alternative route nears the San Fernando exit of NLEX.
The recommended route was a smooth ride at the start. The road traversing a portion of the Calumpit town in Bulacan on the way to Mac Arthur Highway was surprisingly not (or no longer) flooded. Turning right to Mac Arthur Highway, however, was another story.
One can sense that a great portion of Calumpit town was still flooded. Vehicles of different sizes were parked along the two sides of the highway that presumably served as a safe and a more elevated parking space. The traffic was more forgiving but some parts of the old highway leading to Calumpit and Apalit, San Simon and San Fernando were flooded and under repair. In all, it took me two hours to complete my diversionary trip to the San Fernando exit and back to NLEX.
So what caused the NLEX flood? NLEX Corp., the operator of the toll road, and the national government blamed Super Typhoon Egay, Typhoon Falcon and the enhanced southwest monsoon rain that flooded parts of the major highway.
The Department of Public Works and Highways, meanwhile, said it would raise the Tulaoc Bridge to accommodate a more elevated road under it—as planned by NLEX.
San Miguel solution
Rivers overflow due to heavy rain, siltation, deforestation, illegal structures and pollution. The swelling of Pampanga River partly caused the heavy NLEX flooding. The excess water found its way to the Candaba Swamp and increased the water intake of Calumpit River, a tributary of Pampanga River.
Bulacan’s perennial problem with flooding has a solution, says San Miguel Corp. president and chief executive officer Ramon S. Ang, or RSA.
San Miguel offered an extensive cleanup of polluted river systems and waterways in and around the province, using its own resources at no cost to the government and the people of Bulacan.
RSA made the pledge to Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga in a recent meeting, where he presented the status of SMC’s massive river cleanup initiatives including the Pasig River, Tullahan River, and the San Juan River.
The company has already spent some P3 billion to de-silt and remove solid wastes from the polluted waterways. Ang also outlined plans to fully shift its river rehabilitation efforts to Bulacan in the coming months.
San Miguel, which has multiple investments in Bulacan —including the MRT-7 project, the Bulacan Bulk Water Supply facility, and the biggest development in the country to date, the P740-billion New Manila International Airport —has, in recent years, been a prime mover and advocate for cleaning up major river systems in Metro Manila.
“Our Pasig River cleanup is almost complete. After about two years, we are nearing our target of 1.4 million tons of silt and waste removed. We have also started desilting and waste extraction activities at the Meycauayan River and Maycapiz/Taliptip River. This is part of our plan to clean up rivers in the Bulakan-Obando-Meycauayan-Marilao-Bocaue-Guiguinto River System, which is critical to addressing flooding throughout the southern part of Bulacan,” says Ang.
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