Economic development in Luzon comes with NLEX expansion

BAGUIO CITY ,Philippines  – Economic development is coming with the expansion projects linking the provinces all over Luzon.

The North Luzon Expressway linking the North Harbor up to the South Luzon Expressway boosts economic activities between the Northern and Southern part of Luzon, while expansion projects being undertaken by the Manila North Tollways Corp. in partnership with Metro Pacific Tollways north of Manila further propels progress, said MNTC president and chief exe­cutive officer Rodrigo Franco in a press briefing here.

The first phase of the three-phased expansion project was finished in June 2010, the 2.7-kilometer NLEX – Mindanao Avenue, Quezon City link showcasing the biggest full Cloverleaf in the country and has reduced the congestion in Epifanio De los Santos Avenue (EDSA) while creating a new route to the port area in Manila.

For the second phase, MNTC will be undertaking the NLEX Harbor Link, which will be composed of two sections. First on schedule is a 2.4 km road extending NLEX westward from the end of the NLEX Mindanao Avenue link at the new Cloverleaf up to MacArthur Highway in Valenzuela. The detailed engineering design for the project, with an estimated cost of P1.69 billion is almost complete, Franco said. Construction is expected to start last quarter of this year.

The next section of the NLEX Harbor Link is a 5.65-km elevated expressway from MacArthur Highway interchange to the C-3 road shall be built substantially along the Northrail and Philippine National Railways (PNR) tracks. This project would cost about P6.33 billion and with a target construction period, from second quarter of 2012 up to the third quarter of 2013. 

For the third phase, Metro Pacific Corp. will construct a NLEX-SLEX “connector road,” a 13.2 kms, four-lane integrated system that is crucial for fast and efficient movement of goods between North and South Luzon, which will also be built above the PNR tracks.

According to Franco, this expansion project would reduce the travel time from NLEX to SLEX to about 15 to 20 minutes and would provide unrestricted traffic flow linking airports and seaports, which will not be affected by the existing truck ban in Metro Manila.

“This will have a major social and economic impact especially to trucks coming from and going to the ports as the connector road will be more convenient to them because they can use it 24 hours a day,” Franco beamed.