HPG: APEC lane now Christmas express lane

MANILA, Philippines - The Highway Patrol Group (HPG) will revive next week the lane used by Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit delegates along EDSA.

The APEC lane, which will be renamed the Christmas express lane, will be the innermost part of EDSA from Shaw Boulevard to Gil Puyat Avenue and Ayala Avenue to Tramo street in Pasay City.

HPG director Chief Superintendent Arnold Gunnacao said yesterday motorists can use the lane to go through EDSA without stopovers.

Gunnacao said the Christmas express lane will be implemented from the first week of December to the first week of January next year.

Orange plastic barriers will be put up to mark the lane and prevent motorists from changing or swerving lanes, a practice seen as one of the causes of traffic gridlocks, he said.

The Christmas express lane will complement the designated mabuhay lanes, routes that motorists can take as alternatives to EDSA, Gunnacao said.

HPG spokesman Superintendent Grace Tamayo said the HPG will also designate a bus lane along the northbound lane of EDSA, especially in front of malls.

Tamayo added the HPG will deploy 250 personnel on two shifts along EDSA to help ease traffic jams during the Christmas season. The first shift will be from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m. and the second shift from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Tamayo said some HPG personnel will go on roving  patrol from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. every day.