By Aerol John Pateña/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — No major damage was found in North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) following the magnitude 6.1 earthquake that struck Pampanga and parts of Luzon last April 22.
The NLEX Corporation assured motorists of the safety of both expressways despite some pavement cracks observed in bridge approaches along SCTEX.
“To ensure the comfort of our motorists, damaged pavements will be replaced and distorted posts as well as bridge expansion joints will be repaired,” said NLEX Corporation President and General Manager Luigi Bautista in a statement on Monday.
The results of a post-earthquake assessment conducted by NLEX Corporation and its engineering consultant, AMH Philippines, showed that no major structural damages were found in NLEX and SCTEX bridges and slopes but there were cracks and deformations on pavements and bridge expansion joints that need immediate repairs.
Four bridges in SCTEX Porac—Pasig-Potrero, Babo Pangulo, Planas, and Porac— and two bridges in SCTEX Floridablanca—Caulaman and Gumain—bore pavement cracks while steel plates and expansion joints became uneven while some median concrete toppings in the said areas were also broken.
Meanwhile, a few light and signposts along Candaba Viaduct and Dau and Sta. Ines interchanges at NLEX had noticeably leaned.
“Immediately after the earthquake, our incident response teams were deployed to inspect all our infrastructure facilities and assure the safety of the public plying our expressways,” Bautista said.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) earlier reported that Porac felt the quake at Intensity VI. The agency also explained that Porac and Floridablanca are among the towns in Pampanga that sit on soft soil because of the lahar deposits caused by the Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991.
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