Closed SLEx lane to be passable before December —Villar

STA. ROSA, Laguna —Motorists experiencing heavy traffic along the north bound of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) can expect better conditions once the closed lane of the toll road will be opened before December, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said Tuesday.

Construction works for the Skyway extension project prompted the closure of SLEx lane 3—causing further congestion on the expressway.

“Ang target namin before December maging passable na ‘yung lanes may ginagawa lang construction para sa Skyway extension,” Villar told reporters on the sidelines of his ocular inspection of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway project.

The 6-kilometer extension of the Skyway from Barangay Cupang to Susana Heights in Muntinlupa City, is scheduled to be completed by December 2020.

Stakeholders have been calling for fast tracking the construction works and to ease the traffic situation, as zipper lanes failed to relieve the gridlock. 

“Temporary lang naman, I think in seven weeks luluwag na pagkatapos ng construction,” Villar said.

Skyway O&M Corp. earlier said that initial works on the Skyway extension project are expected to be finished by end of November.

The Cabinet official said the authorities and the private company are working on measures to ease the traffic congestion along the SLEx.

“Meron na kaming measures na ginagawa katulad ng zipper lane. Magkakaroon ng one-way sa service road para mabawasan ‘yung traffic,” Villar said.

The East Service Road was converted to a one-way northbound traffic lane from Alabang to the Sucat Interchange starting October 8 at 10:00 p.m. until end-November.

The Alabang Northbound Entry Plaza will be relocated to the vicinity of Amkor/Anam to improve the flow of  merging traffic from the viaduct.

Once finished by December 2020, the Skyway extension project will create an direct link to the Skyway elevated section starting from Susana Heights, meaning that drivers would no longer have to take the road under the Skyway where the traffic is congested.

“‘Pag natapos yun, next year ‘yung Skyway hahaba yung alignment niya,” Villar said, noting that the project will eventually benefit motorists in the long-term. — MDM, GMA News