DPWH eyes CLLEX to be operational by H1 2023

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is targeting the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) to be operational up to San Juan, Aliaga, Nueva Ecija come the first half of 2023.

In his report, DPWH Senior Undersecretary Emil Sadain said that the DPWH Unified Project Management Office-Roads Management Cluster 1 (DPWH-UPMO RMC1) is currently working on the additional seven-kilometer segment from Guimba-Aliaga Road intersection to San Juan Interchange that will extend to 25 kilometers the 18-kilometer section of the CLLEX that is already accessible.

Sadain noted that the DPWH-UPMO RMC1 have been working hard to overcome the challenges that cause delays in the project (which serves as the connecting path of Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway [SCTEX> and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway [TPLEX>) such as inclement weather conditions, right of way issues, difficulty in the transport of construction materials, and COVID-19.

Aside from the four-lane, two -way expressway, the DPWH is also conducting construction works for three interchanges namely Zaragoza, Aliaga and San Juan that will give motorists coming from secondary and provincial roads access to CLLEX.

When completed, the 30-kilometer CLLEX project is expected to give the motoring public seamless traffic flow from Metro Manila and vice versa.

Further, the DPWH noted that the project will shorten the usual travel time between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan from 70 minutes City to 20 minutes.

One of the key infrastructures with funding assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the CLLEX is included in the Luzon Spine Expressway Network projects aimed at cutting down travel time from the northernmost part of Luzon, Ilocos, to the southernmost part, Bicol, by over 50 percent via the construction of high standard highway network.

Photos from Department of Public Works and Highways

Also read:

CLLEX to open up to Aliaga, Nueva Ecija by mid-May

CLLEX 2 major segments completed—DPWH

Cabanatuan-bound CLLEX Segment to be partially open by yearend