The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) is a controlled-access highway that connects Metro Manila to the provinces of the Central Luzon region in the Philippines. The expressway travels from its southern terminus at Balintawak Interchange in Quezon City to its northern terminus at Santa Ines Interchange in Mabalacat, Pampanga. The Balintawak Interchange is adjacent to NLEX's connection to the Skyway, an elevated toll road that connects NLEX to its counterpart in the south, the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX). It is a component of Expressway 1 (E1) of the Philippine expressway network, and is partially signed as National Route 160 (N160) of the Philippine highway network and Radial Road 8 (R-8) of Metro Manila's arterial road network. The segment between Santa Rita exit in Guiguinto, Bulacan, and the Balintawak Interchange is part of Asian Highway 26 (AH26) of the Asian Highway Network.
The North Luzon Expressway was built in the 1960s as part of the government's program to develop areas adjacent to Metro Manila. The expressway was originally controlled by the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC), until its operations and maintenance were transferred on February 10, 2005, to the NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments (a former subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation until August 2008). The expressway was expanded and rehabilitated from 2003 to February 2005, modernizing the road and its facilities.
Route description
The North Luzon Expressway's main segment, called the North Luzon Tollway (NLT) or NLEX Main, runs northwards from Quezon City to the provinces of Central Luzon.
The expressway begins in Quezon City as a four-lane road at the Balintawak Interchange with EDSA as a continuation of A. Bonifacio Avenue. The main segment spans , passing through Caloocan and Valenzuela in Metro Manila and the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga in Central Luzon. It currently ends in Mabalacat. The NLEX runs parallel to the MacArthur Highway, which is officially known as the Manila North Road.
From Balintawak, the NLEX follows a straight northward route, with sections lined by billboards. Two service roads run on either side of the expressway from Balintawak to Lias, Marilao, albeit discontinuously, and one service road runs on the west from Marilao Exit to Duhat, Bocaue. The N160 concurrency ends at the city boundaries of Caloocan and Malabon, near the Eternal Gardens Memorial Park and just below the Skyway and its Balintawak Exit, and a few meters south of the former site of the Balintawak toll plaza, which operated until 2005. The expressway then bends westward at Harbor Link Interchange in Valenzuela and later at Tambubong Interchange in Bocaue, Bulacan.
The following exit, Tabang, leads to the Tabang Spur Road. The Tabang Spur Road is a four-lane, spur road in Bulacan that branches off NLEX Main at Tabang Exit in Balagtas and terminates at a partial cloverleaf interchange with MacArthur Highway and Cagayan Valley Road at Guiguinto Exit in Guiguinto. The spur road carried the final leg of the expressway until the present route was extended to Pampanga.
The expressway narrows to three lanes per direction past Tabang Exit. It continues on a straight route, traversing paddy fields on the outskirts of Guiguinto, Malolos, and Pulilan. The Asian Highway 26 (AH26) concurrency leaves NLEX at Santa Rita Exit, where it follows Maharlika Highway, also known as Cagayan Valley Road, towards Baliwag and Cagayan Valley. A few meters after Pulilan Exit is the Candaba Viaduct. The bridge traverses rice paddies and swampland in the municipalities of Pulilan and Calumpit in Bulacan and Apalit in Pampanga, and crosses Apalit Bypass Road and Pampanga River before the viaduct ends. The expressway continues on a straight alignment. After San Fernando Exit, the expressway narrows into two lanes per direction. It continues a mostly straight and gently winding route through the rural areas of Mexico, crossing Abacan and Quitangil rivers, and traversing the eastern parts of Angeles and Mabalacat. NLEX connects with the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) via the Clark Spur Road before the main line approaches its final toll plaza and terminates at the Santa Ines Interchange, where it continues to the north as the Mabalacat Bypass Road.
NLEX Harbor Link
Collectively known as the NLEX Harbor Link Project, these expressways connect the North Luzon Expressway to various points in Metro Manila. It currently runs from Mindanao Avenue in Valenzuela to Radial Road 10 in Navotas, linking the North Luzon Expressway to the Port of Manila. Once completed, it will run from Katipunan Avenue, a component of Circumferential Road 5 (C-5), in Quezon City in the east.
History Planning and construction
Construction of the North Luzon Expressway, then known as the Manila North Diversion Road, and later renamed as the Manila North Expressway, began in 1962 with the initial segment from Balintawak to Canumay, Valenzuela, built by local construction firm Philrock (later merged with EEI Corporation in 2000). The segment was later extended to Guiguinto, Bulacan, by the Philippine Army, with both projects funded by the government. Following the passage of the Private Financing Act of 1966, the Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (CDCP), later renamed the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC), took over the unfinished portions and constructed the southbound lane from Tabang to Canumay in 1967. The project was also funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
In June 1968, a portion of the North Diversion Road passing through the province of Bulacan was renamed as the Marcelo H. del Pilar Highway. The original stretch of the highway, from the then-newly opened Balintawak Interchange in Quezon City, located then in the province of Rizal, before passing Caloocan, also in Rizal, up to Guiguinto Exit, was completed on August 4 of the same year. It is a fully fenced limited-access highway that consisted of a four-lane rural divided roadway, nine twin bridges, one railroad overpass, seven underpasses, and three interchanges. The executive order was signed to designate the highway as a toll road.
Originally a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the completion of the major portion of the job fell on the CDCP, the precursor to PNCC to pioneer the toll concept of funding infrastructure.
Additional work required by the government included the construction of the Balintawak – Novaliches Interchange Complex, the Tabang Interchange, and the approach road of the underpasses.
In 1970, the highway was renamed again as the Marcelo H. del Pilar Expressway.
Work on the extension started in April 1974, leading to its official opening by President Ferdinand Marcos in Pulilan on May 17, 1977. It was completed in August of the same year. The route, consisting of of concrete road, was built as part of a highways program of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) linking major urban centers to the production centers in the north. The project features a 4-lane limited-access highway with a Candaba Viaduct, a construction innovation utilizing precast beam system, 6 interchanges, 12 bridges, and overpass/underpass structures. The original plan of the expressway's extension was supposed to end at Tarlac, which was conceptualized before the construction began.
In 1989, the expressway was extended by another from its terminus at Dau Exit to Santa Ines Exit in Mabalacat, Pampanga, with a northbound lane from Dau Exit to the future connection to SCTEX had an asphalt overlay while the southbound lane was originally a concrete road before an asphalt overlay was added upon the expressway's rehabilitation.
Planned extension to Pangasinan and La Union Early in the plans that would have extended the expressway beyond its northern terminus in Mabalacat, Pampanga, towards the Ilocos region. These various different proposals have been made throughout the years.
In 1977, President Marcos signed a presidential decree that proposes an expressway extension to Rosales, Pangasinan. They later mentioned it again in 1983. In 1989, the PNCC proposed an extension of the expressway, totaling by from Mabalacat to Capas, Tarlac, and to Rosales.
In 1994, Italian-Thai Development proposed the extension of the North Luzon Tollway to Pangasinan and La Union, as well as the widening of the expressway from four to eight lanes under the build-operate-transfer scheme.
The PNCC–Italian-Thai joint venture proposes an extension of the expressway has four segments:
Mabalacat to Paniqui - Paniqui to Carmen, Rosales - Carmen, Rosales to Pugo - Pugo to Baguio -
However, the agreement turned into a deadlock, and Congressman Mike Defensor was assailed for imputing motivations to Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for resolving, and also, Benpres (now Lopez Holdings Corporation), which involved the rehabilitation and expansion of the expressway, was planned to include the extension to Pangasinan and La Union with agreement as its revision. Nothing came out of that undertaking.
On December 30, 1996, the Japanese firm Itochu reached an agreement with the PNCC to construct the extension of the expressway to Pangasinan, and a feasibility study was carried out. Meanwhile, the route has a total length of from Mabalacat to Urdaneta, Pangasinan, with a planned extension to La Union.
Filipinas Dravo Corporation also made a study on the expressway extension that would extend to San Fernando, La Union, totaling in the same year and proposed it in the 1997 master plan. One year later, the Medium-term Philippine Development Plan proposed a extension of the expressway. Later, in 1999, it was reported that Leighton was interested in the project.
When the proposal was not realized, the extension of the expressway was split into two expressways, the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway and its segment between Clark and Tarlac City, and the Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway. No new proposals have made since then.
Expansion and rehabilitation
On April 30, 1998, the MNTC was granted the concession for the expressway, manifested in a Supplementary Toll Operation Agreement (STOA). Under the STOA, the government confirmed the assignment by PNCC of its usufructuary rights, interest and privileges over the existing expressway, including all extensions, linkages and diversions in favor of MNTC. These concession rights authorized MNTC to construct, finance, manage, operate and maintain all the project roads and charge tolls thereon.
From February 2003 to February 2005, the expressway underwent a major rehabilitation. Works included the widening of the Balintawak–Tabang segment from 6 to 8 lanes and the Tabang–Sta. Rita segment from 4 to 6 lanes, asphalt overlay, and the demolition of old tollbooths. The main contractor of the rehabilitation work was Leighton Asia with 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. On February 10, 2005, commercial operations began following the Toll Regulatory Board's issuance of the Toll Operation Permit. On the same day, the operation and maintenance of the expressway was transferred from the government-owned PNCC to the privately owned MNTC, which would later become known as NLEX Corporation.
On February 12, 2007, the entire stretch of the expressway began another rehabilitation regarding its drainage systems. Within this period, certain lanes of the road were closed to the traffic. This in turn caused massive traffic jams along the road and the speed limit on the construction sites were reduced from and , respectively, to . The program was finished on October 7, 2007.