Major roads of the Philippines

In the Philippines, roads can be classified into six divisions, Maharlika Highway, Controlled-access highways (called Tollways or Expressways), Regional Highways, Provincial Highways, Provincial Link Roads, and City/Municipal Avenues and Roads.

Major roads include the Maharlika Highway and Tollways.

Maharlika Highway

Further information, Pan-Philippine Highway

The Maharlika Highway, or in English, Pan-Philippine Highway, also known as Daang Maharlika, connects Laoag City in Luzon with Zamboanga City in Mindanao. The Maharlika Highway commences from Laoag City then skirts rightward toward Pagudpud and the Claveria coast towards Cagayan, then right again, towards Tuguegarao City, the capital of Cagayan province. The Highway then goes fairly straight, passing through the provinces of Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, and Bulacan, where, in the area near Guiguinto, it merges with the Manila North Road, then route to Metro Manila. In Metro Manila, the highway passes through Rizal Avenue, Plaza Carriedo, Padre Burgos Avenue, then to Taft Avenue. From Taft Avenue, they highway passes through Redemptorist Road, then continues leftward through Quirino Highway until Las Piñas City, where it turns leftward toward the Alabang-Zapote Road, crosses the South Luzon Expressway, then continues on as National Highway towards Laguna province. In Calamba City, it turns left toward Batangas province, then again, in San Pablo City, turns rightward toward Quezon province. It passes through Quezon, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, and Sorsogon provinces. It ends in Matnog town, Sorsogon, then through ferry, goes straight through the Samar and Leyte provinces, then a ferry is again passed, to the island of Mindanao. In Mindanao, it passes through the provinces of Surigao del Norte, Agusan, Davao, Davao del Sur, South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur, where it ends.

Tollways/Expressways

In the Philippines, there are only six controlled-access highways, all located on Luzon island:

• North Luzon Expressway (connecting Manila to North Luzon and Central Luzon)
• South Luzon Expressway (connecting Manila to South Luzon and the rest of the Philippines)
• Metro Manila Skyway (expressway on the top of SLEx connecting Makati City and Parañaque City)
• Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (connecting Subic Bay Freeport Zone to Tarlac City)
• Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR Tollway) (connecting Santo Tomas, Batangas to Batangas City)
• Manila-Cavite Expressway (Coastal Road) connecting Metro Manila to Cavite.

South Luzon Expressway

The South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), also nicknamed South Superhighway (SSH), and officially known as Radial Road 3 or R-3, is a network of three expressways that connects Metro Manila to the provinces of the CALABARZON region in the Philippines. The first expressway is the Metro Manila Skyway System, operated jointly by the Skyway Operation and Management Corporation (SomCo) and Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corporation (CMMTC). The second expressway, the South Luzon Tollway or Alabang-Calamba-Sto.Tomas Expressway (ACTEx), is jointly operated by the South Luzon Tollway Corporation, a joint venture of the PNCC and the Malaysian company MTD Capital Berhad and the Manila Toll Expressway Systems, Inc. (MATES). The third expressway, the STAR Tollway, is operated by STAR Infrastructure Development Corporation (STAR - IDC), it runs from Santo Tomas to Batangas City, both within the province of Batangas.

The expressway starts in Manila's Paco District at President Elpidio Quirino Avenue and passes through the following cities and municipalities: Manila, Makati, Pasay, Parañaque, Taguig and Muntinlupa in Metro Manila, San Pedro, Biñan City, Carmona in Cavite, the transverses again to Biñan City, Santa Rosa City, Cabuyao and Calamba City in Laguna, Santo Tomas, Tanauan City, Malvar, Lipa City, Ibaan and ends in Batangas City.

In 2006, the South Luzon Tollway segment underwent rehabilitation through the SLEX Upgrading and Rehabilitation Project, which rehabilitates and expands the Alabang Viaduct as well as the road from Alabang to Calamba, and eventually connect the expressway to the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road to Batangas. It is the Philippine's longest expressway covering up a distance of 97 kilometers.

North Luzon Expressway

The North Luzon Expressway (NLE or NLEx), formerly called North Diversion Road, is a 4 to 8-lane limited-access toll expressway that connects Metro Manila to the provinces of the Central Luzon region in the Philippines. It is one of the two branches of the Radial Road 8 (R-8) of Metro Manila (Quirino Highway is the other).

The expressway begins in Quezon City at a cloverleaf interchange with EDSA: a logical continuation of Andres Bonifacio Avenue. It then passes through Quezon City, Caloocan City, and Valenzuela City in Metro Manila. Meycauayan City, Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto, Malolos City, Plaridel, and Pulilan in Bulacan. San Simon, City of San Fernando, Mexico and Angeles City in Pampanga. The expressway currently ends at Mabalacat and merges with the MacArthur Highway, which continues northward into the rest of Central and Northern Luzon.

A planned spur route from the San Simon interchange connecting to the existing Subic-Tipo Highway has been temporarily postponed^{[citation needed]}, because the Spur/NLE exit currently serves as the connection between the expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and there is a proposed direct interchange between the North Luzon Expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway^{[citation needed]}, the latter serving as a direct link between Subic and Clark. The interchange is located at least 3 km north of Sta. Ines Exit.

The expressway, including Andres Bonifacio Avenue, has total length of 88 kilometers. The expressway segment has a length of 84 kilometres.

Originally controlled by the Philippine National Construction Corporation or PNCC, operation and maintenance of the NLEx was transferred in 2005 to the Manila North Tollways Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (formerly, it was the subsidiary of the Lopez Group of Companies). A major upgrade and rehabilitation has been completed in February 2005 and the road has now similar qualities as a modern French tollway. The main contractor of the rehabilitation work was Leighton Contractors Pty. Ltd (Australia) with Egis Projects, a company belonging to the French Groupe Egis as the main subcontractor for the toll, telecommunication and traffic management systems. To help maintain the safety and quality of the expressway, various rules are in effect, such as restricting the left lane to passing vehicles only and banning overloaded trucks.

The tollway has two sections: an open section and a closed section.^[1] The open section (within Metro Manila) charges a flat toll based on vehicle class and is employed to reduce the number of toll barriers (and associated bottlenecks) within the metropolis. The closed section is distance-based, charging based on the class of vehicle and distance traveled. Class 1 vehicles can use an electronic toll collection system (called EC Tag) to reduce wait times and congestion at toll barriers. A prepaid magnetic card (the NLE Badge) is provided as an alternative payment for class 2 and 3 vehicles. Both systems connect to accounts that can be replenished in various ways.

References

1. ^ http://www.mntc.com/nlex/NLEX_Toll.htm

See also

• Major roads in Metro Manila
• List of Expressways in the Philippines