Heavy traffic amid holiday rush extends travel times

Travelers faced hours of heavy traffic en route to the provinces over the weekend as the holiday rush intensified, just days before Christmas.

According to the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the worst traffic was reported on roads leading to the Bicol Region, mainly due to ongoing repairs on major highways damaged by recent storms.

“Kung dati  ang biyahe natin from Manila to Legazpi, ang mabilis na po diyan ay nine hours kung wala hong traffic ‘yan. Nung nagkaroon ng traffic ay times  two — ‘yung nine hours naging 18 hours po,” DPWH Region 5 Director  Virgilio Eduarte said in a report by Mav Gonzales on “24 Oras  Weekend” on Sunday.

(Previously, the travel time from Manila to Legazpi would be around nine hours without traffic. With the current conditions, it has doubled to 18  hours.)

Travelers also endured five to six hours of gridlock along the Andaya Highway in Lupi,  Camarines Sur.

In one incident, a passenger who stepped out of a bus during a standstill was sideswiped by a motorcycle. The traffic delay hindered the transport of the injured passenger to a hospital, where he was treated for a possible leg fracture. The motorcyclist was later brought to a police station.

Similar traffic conditions were reported along the Maharlika Highway in Labo, Camarines Norte, also due to road repairs.

The holiday congestion extended to transportation hubs, delaying trips from the Parañaque Integrated Terminal Exchange (PITX), which recorded a  record-high 218,000 passengers on Saturday, December 21. By 5 p.m. on  Sunday, December 22, PITX had already logged 150,000 passengers.

At the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), operators expected 2.296 million passengers between December 20 and January 3, 2025, marking a  10.95% increase from the same period in 2024.

“Christmas is a time for connecting with family, friends, and loved ones. While this is one of the busiest seasons for NAIA, we are working hard to make the experience as safe and comfortable as possible for all passengers,” said New NAIA Infra Corp. (NNIC) President Ramon Ang.

To manage the holiday rush, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) deployed all available personnel to ports and airports, supplementing their staff with additional personnel assigned to mobile counters. — Jon Viktor Cabuenas/DVM, GMA Integrated News