Maintaining proper vertical clearance is an increasing challenge for truckers across the Philippines, the Confederation of Truckers Association of the Philippines (CTAP) said Monday, following a recent incident where a truck struck an overpass bridge on the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX).
CTAP president Mary Zapanta said the problem is widespread, affecting not only NLEX but also other major roads like the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) and Abad Santos in Manila.
“This problem is widespread. Because the vertical clearance of the bridges is no longer acceptable with the height of the trucks that are passing by. So usually, trucks take the long way round to avoid having to cross those bridges,” said Zapanta.
Trucks have been unable to meet vertical clearance requirements on major roads for various reasons, leading to accidents.
CTAP met with the Department of Transportation (DOTr) and Secretary Vince Dizon to propose long-term solutions. However, securing the necessary resources remains a hurdle.
Zapanta quoted Dizon as acknowledging the issue but indicating that potential solutions like road scraping or elevating bridges would be a massive undertaking.
“Budget might triple, or even quadruple,” Zapanta recalled Dizon saying.
Despite the difficulties, CTAP said it is willing to continue working around the situation. They believe that any hasty moves to penalize NLEX or push for immediate long-term steps might do more harm than good.
“We’ll have a general membership meeting of the members of CTAP by Wednesday and we’ll talk about how we’ll need to avoid bridges,” Zapanta said.
“Even if it will be more expensive, when it comes to toll fees, diesel, a driver’s salary and the turnaround will be longer. Whatever rate we’ll have, I’ll tell them that we’ll need to compute on how we can charge this to our clients. That is the only solution we can think of at the moment,” said Zapanta.
CTAP acknowledged that the current plan would not be sustainable for drivers in the long run.
CTAP is pushing for more dialogue among all stakeholders, including the Land Transportation Office (LTO), Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB), Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), NLEX and SLEX, to form a more effective solution.
After meeting with the DOTr, CTAP also spoke with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). Zapanta said both groups share a common goal.
“They have one direction. It will be good to have a TWG [Technical Working Group], sit down on it, and think about the needed solutions, whether a memorandum circular, amendments, or moratoriums which will need to be finalized,” said Zapanta.
“We’ll need to work together, as stakeholders in the traffic industry… We need to understand the situation,” she said.
