National Route 9 (N9) is a two to six major primary route network connecting the provinces of connecting the provinces of Agusan del Norte, Misamis Oriental, Lanao del Norte, and Zamboanga del Sur.
Route description The highway runs along the northern coast of Mindanao from Butuan, Agusan del Norte to Tukuran, Zamboanga del Sur. Its section from Balingoan, Misamis Oriental, the location of a ferry port to Camiguin, to Cagayan de Oro is part of the Central Nautical Highway of the Philippine Nautical Highway System. Its section from Alae Bridge 2 at Tagoloan–Cagayan de Oro boundary to Marcos Bridge, which crosses the Cagayan de Oro River, in Cagayan de Oro is part of the Mindanao spur of the Pan-Philippine Highway, although the signs that are on the kilometer markers are actually N10/AH26 signs, indicating that the latter route is on a concurrency with N9.
Caraga Butuan City
National Route 9 starts in Ampayon, Butuan as Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road in a Y-junction stemmed from the Daang Maharlika. An section of the latter refers a side of the triangle roundabout as part of N9. It is unknown if this is a mistake or not. The other side is named Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road. It passes through urban portions of the city and is the main highway for the city. It meets a Y-junction which stems a diversion road called Mayor Democrito D. Plaza II Avenue (N951). It enters a roundabout with the aforementioned highway and Bancasi Airport Road (N954).
Agusan del Norte The road enters the province of Agusan del Norte and traverses through the towns of Buenavista, the industrial Nasipit and Carmen. The region ends in the Carmen-Magsaysay border.
Northern Mindanao Misamis Oriental
N9 and its assigned highway reaches the municipality of Magsaysay and reaches a sharp turn where the direction goes south. It is a road with many turns. After reaching Gingoog, the road is met with the Gingoog–Claveria–Villanueva Road, a diversion that ignores most of the towns in the eastern side of the province. After traversing through many municipalities, it is met again with the western end of the aforementioned road. Upon reaching the city of Cagayan de Oro, it reunites with the Asian Highway 26, albeit it is a spur route. It also reaches the junction of a coastal highway that ends in Opol instead of the eponymous town. It also gives access to the port road (N946) and two other streets designated as N945. It traverses to the industrial areas of Opol and El Salvador. It passes through multiple more towns including Laguindingan, which is the location of a non-national airport road. Upon reaching Gitagum, a road to the sharp left turn is actually the true route of the Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road because it gives access to its municipal hall and a part of the poblacion, the former road is actually a diversion road. After more towns have been passed, N9 reaches the Misamis Oriental-Iligan border, thus ending the Butuan–Cagayan de Oro–Iligan Road.
Iligan City
N9 starts in Iligan as Misamis Oriental–Maria Cristina Boundary Road. Upon reaching the urban area of the city, it is met with a diversion road (N956-1) that ends near the N77 junction. Once it enters the area containing Overton, the route changes to N77 where it goes left while N9's physical continuation is the Overton–Buru-un Road. This section ends in the border with Iligan and Linamon.
Lanao del Norte The Lanao del Norte portion of the road is entirely the Linamon–Zamboanga Road. It enters multiple towns including the provincial capital Tubod, which is home to a port road (N957) and Panguil Bay Bridge, which connects Tangub and significantly cuts travel time between Misamis Occidental and the aforementioned province.
Zamboanga del Sur The road enters Zamboanga del Sur at Aurora. Upon reaching the roundabout in the Aurora town proper, the road terminates at the Aurora–Tukuran Road and Aurora–Ozamiz City Road. The N9 designation resumes away as the Junction Aurora–Monte Alegre Road, which eventually reaches its terminus at the intersection with the Ozamiz–Pagadian Road (N78) in Barangay Monte Alegre, also in Aurora.
History During the American colonial era, N9's section from Butuan to Iligan was part of Highway 1 in Mindanao, while the section from Butuan to Tukuran was part of Highway 7. By 2014, these highways were designated by the Department of Public Works and Highways as N9.
In the mid-2020s, Aurora–Tukuran Road, which runs between the Aurora town proper and the Pan-Philippine Highway in Tukuran—both located in Zamboanga del Sur—was removed from N9 and downgraded to a tertiary national road. Concurrently, the Junction Aurora–Monte Alegre Road in Aurora was incorporated into N9. This realignment effectively shifted the western terminus of N9 from Tukuran to Aurora.
Intersections
References
External links DPWH Road and Bridge Inventory