NLEX Corp. with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) unveiled on Monday the latest section of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) Harbor Link Segment, which the government expects to cut travel time from Quezon City to Port Area in Manila to 20 minutes.
The 2.6-kilometer (km) elevated section runs from the new Caloocan Interchange in C-3 Road to Mel Lopez Boulevard, or the former Radial Road 10, in Manila.
It expands the existing 2.42-km. Harbor Link Segment 9, which links the NLEx Interchange to Karuhatan in Valenzuela City, and the 5.65-km. Segment 10 between Karuhatan to the Caloocan Interchange.
“The expanded NLEx Harbor Link will certainly boost the government’s traffic decongestion efforts in Metro Manila and other major thoroughfares, DPWH Secretary Mark A. Villar said in a statement.
“This will be an alternative route between Quezon City and Manila. From the Mindanao Toll Plaza, motorists may now reach the Port Area in Manila in about 15 to 20 minutes,” he added.
It is expected that around 30,000 vehicles each day will pass through the expressway.
The C3-R10 section will decongest choke points along Quezon Avenue, Epifanio Delos Santos Avenue (EDSA), and A. Bonifacio Avenue in Manila, as it is expected to divert around 70% of trucks passing these roads, Mr. Villar said during the live inauguration.
The road project is part of the EDSA decongestion program under the government’s flagship infrastructure program Build, Build, Build.
“By bringing NLEx closer to the country’s central shipping gateway, we expect to speed up transport of goods as well as increased economic activities in Metro Manila and North and Central Luzon regions,” NLEX Corp. President and General Manager J. Luigi L. Bautista said.
Meanwhile, both DPWH and NLEX are targeting to complete the construction of an exit ramp towards the Navotas Fish Port Complex before end-2020. — A. J. Ang
