The Department of Public Works and Highways said Monday a new toll-free expressway between Tarlac City and Aliaga, Nueva Ecija will open to motorists by May 15 this year.
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said within the next 90 days, the 18-kilometer section from the connection of Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway in Balingcanaway, Tarlac City to Aliaga Interchange of the Central Luzon Link Expressway Project Phase 1 would be substantially completed.
Villar said the CLLEX Phase 1 would cut travel time between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City from 70 minutes to just 20 minutes.
Villar was joined in his inspection of the project by DPWH Unified Project Management Office Operations Undersecretary Emil Sadain, Region 3 director Roseller Tolentino, project director Virgilio Castillo and project manager Benjamin Bautista.
Sadain said the 4.10-km Tarlac section and the 6.40-km Rio Chico River Bridge Section, including the 1.5-km Rio Chico Viaduct, were already completed, while the 9.20-km Aliaga Section and the 10.30-km Cabanatuan section were 78.46-percent and 85.04-percent accomplished, respectively.
An additional 4.8-km component of the expressway from the junction of Carmen-Cabanatuan Road is the Zaragoza Interchange Section.
“We are seeing a quality infrastructure that will benefit around 11,200 motorists and commuters daily and ease traffic at Daang Maharlika Highway about to be delivered by the President Rodrigo Roa Duterte administration,” Villar said.
He said the P11.811-billion expressway is part of the administration’s deliberate focus under the “Build, Build, Build” program on developing the provinces through connective infrastructure that would not only reduce travel time but also help farmers from the Philippines’ rice granary of Nueva Ecija in delivering their crops to markets of Central Luzon and Metro Manila.