Palace blames Caloocan gov’t for huge NLEX traffic jam
By ANDREO CALONZO, GMA NewsSeptember 5, 2014 3:27pm

Early morning traffic on NLEX forces commuters to walk toward the Balintawak area in Quezon City on Friday, Sept. 5, 2014. In a post on its Twitter account, NLEX administration said the tail end of the traffic, caused by the one-truck lane policy, has reached the Valenzuela Interchange southbound.

The Caloocan City government's decision to close some roads and reroute trucks caused the monstrous traffic congestion on the southbound lane of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) on Friday, a Malacañang official has said.

The Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has already asked Caloocan City officials not to alter routes to ease traffic, Cabinet Secretary Rene Almendras said at a press briefing.

"We have elevated this to [MMDA] Chairman [Francis] Tolentino whose team is now also talking to the Caloocan City government na kung pwede ibalik natin ‘yung mga ruta na nandoon dati," Almendras told reporters on Friday afternoon.

The Palace official also clarified that the traffic jam was not caused by the "one truck lane" policy, which has been in place since April.

"Because of the certain adjustments that were done [in Caloocan], some roads were suddenly closed, some truck routes were diverted. Hindi na pwedeng dumiretso, pinaliko rito and so on, and then they imposed a single lane," Almendras said.

He added that the same volume of trucks entered Manila ports on Friday morning.

Traffic has been heavy since Friday morning at the NLEX southbound lane from Valenzuela City to Balintawak. The NLEX, in its Twitter account, earlier attributed the congestion to the MMDA's "one truck lane" policy.

Motorists and commuters travelling to Metro Manila from northern provinces were stuck in traffic for hours along NLEX. Some were even forced to walk along the expressway to be able to get to work. —NB, GMA News