Miles-long queues of vehicles on the southbound lanes of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) leading to its toll gates have been the cause of dread among commuters coming from Manila as work has continued on the Skyway extension project since September. The project has necessitated the closure of the SLEx’s third lane.



On Tuesday, Nov. 5, motorists and commuters from Metro Manila were caught in another massive snarl-up at the expressway’s southbound lanes.

The standstill traffic was caused by the installation of temporary steel ramps at Alabang Viaduct connecting to the Skyway’s elevated roadway, which is expected to be completed on Nov. 30. Only motorists with class 1 RFID are able to use the ramps.

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In line with this, the management of the Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc. released a preventive maintenance advisory on its official Twitter account noting that the expressway’s exit ramp will be closed from 10 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9.

For those who are going to Alabang/Filinvest, motorists are advised to take Bunye-South Station exit.

Closed to traffic due to preventive maintenance: SLEX Filinvest Southbound Exit Ramp. From 10 p.m. Friday, November 8 to 2 p.m. Saturday, November 9. Moderate to heavy traffic expected. #SMCTollways #Skyway pic.twitter.com/r6dRx6q5FW — SLEX – MaTES (@OfficialSLEX) November 8, 2019

On the night of Thursday, Nov. 7, “SLEX” trended on Twitter again as netizens expressed their dismay over their hours-long travel going home.

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Twitter user Jun Neri (@Jun_Neri), estimated the number of hours spent by people taking SLEx these days in their commute.

If you take #slex daily these days you spend 8 hrs on the road, 12 hrs at work, 2 hrs to clean up and be left w 2 hrs of sleep… dahil pareho nang gapang sa SB at NB. Salamat sa #slex at naging zombie na ako 😱😱😱 pic.twitter.com/mRxT0Zf7Jm — Jun Neri (@Jun_Neri) November 7, 2019

“If you take #slex these days, people spend 8 hours on the road, 12 hours at work, 2 hours to clean up, and [another] 2 hours left to sleep,” Neri said.

On Facebook, Leina Asengard shared a photo of the standstill southbound traffic going to SLEx toll gates.

Fack… Stand still before SLEX toll gates southbound.. No idea why.. Trying to search sa net, nothing about it. 😠 #slex Posted by Leina Asengard on Thursday, November 7, 2019

The traffic snarls’ tail-ends reportedly reached Nichols Toll Plaza all the way through Bicutan, Parañaque and Alabang.



Meanwhile, the Skyway management appealed to motorists to be patient and to bear with the temporary inconvenience caused by the ongoing construction of the project, which will be completed hopefully soon. /ra



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