NLEX Connector’s Caloocan to España segments to be opened in December

The first two sections of the eight-kilometer stretch of North Luzon Expressway’s (NLEX) Connector Road project will be open for motorists next month, the toll road’s operator NLEX Corporation said Wednesday.

In his remarks during the Transport Con in Pasay City, NLEX Corp. president and general manager J. Luigi Bautista said NLEX Connector’s two segments from Caloocan to España “is more than 90% complete and can be opened by next month.”

The entire NLEX Connector project, meanwhile, is targeted to be fully operational within the early second quarter next year, Bautista said.

The NLEX chief said the “soon-to-open” NLEX Connector is an elevated expressway from Caloocan to Sta. Mesa, “seamlessly connecting North to South and cutting travel time by more than half.”

“This project augurs well for the transport industry as we expect trucks to have an easier access to trading centers in Central and Northern Luzon without having to squeeze through congested roads in Metro Manila,” he said.

The NLEX Connector Road project is a public-private partnership (PPP) between the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and Metro Pacific-led NLEX Corp.

It is a four-lane, all-vehicle class elevated expressway. It spans eight kilometers, and terminates at the vicinity of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) in Sta. Mesa, Manila.

It passes through Tondo, Sta. Cruz, Sampaloc, and Sta. Mesa in Manila and has three interchanges located at C3 Road/5th Avenue in Caloocan, España Boulevard, and R. Magsaysay Boulevard in Manila.

The NLEX Connector project runs mostly above the alignment of the Philippine National Railways (PNR).

NLEX Corp. said the project is seen to reduce travel time from NLEX to South Luzon by at least 60% and is expected to enhance the journey between international airports such as NAIA and Clark and will stimulate development between Metro Manila and its surrounding provinces.

NLEX Corp. is a unit of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC). —LBG, GMA Integrated News