2 key Central Luzon Link Expressway sections completed

  • Two sections of the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX)—Tarlac Section and Rio Chico River Bridge Section—are 100% complete
  • The finished sections form part of the 30-kilometer four-lane CCLEX that will connect Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City
  • The two remaining contract packages—Aliaga Section and Cabanatuan Section—are expected to be fully completed by April 2021
  • Once done, CLLEX Phase 1 will cut travel time between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City from 70 minutes to just 20 minutes

Two of the four major segments of the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) Project Phase 1, which leads to Cabanatuan City in Nueva Ecija, have been completed, according to the Department of Public Works and Highways.

“Construction of 4.1-km (kilometer) contract package (CP) 1-Tarlac Section and 6.4-km CP 2-Rio Chico River Bridge Section [is] now 100% finished,” Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said in a statement.

The completed sections form part of the 30-km, four-lane expressway project set to connect and improve access between the two large cities of Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City.

The first contract package also covers the construction of a 300-meter temporary off- and on-ramp to be used as exit on La Paz-Victoria Road, while the second includes the construction of a 1.5-km Rio Chico River viaduct, a 42-meter Sta. Lucia River Bridge, and a 38-meter La Paz-Victoria underpass bridge.

Based on his recent ocular inspection in Nueva Ecija, Public Works undersecretary Emil Sadain reported that the two remaining contract packages will be delivered to full completion by April 2021.

One is the 9.2-km project covering the Aliaga section and already 77% completed. The project includes construction of the 42-meter Guimba-Aliaga underpass bridge and Aliaga interchange.

The other is the 10.3-km Cabanatuan Section, whose construction is 84% complete and which includes the Cabanatuan and San Juan interchanges, Sadain said.

An additional 4.8-km component of the expressway project from the junction of Carmen-Cabanatuan Road is the Zaragoza Interchange section, which comprises a 2.8-km access free road and a 2-km interchange ramp that will cross over the embankment of CLLEX main expressway by an overpass.

CLLEX Project Phase 1 begins from the connection of Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Tarlac-Pangasinan Expressway in Balingcanaway, Tarlac City, and ends at the Pan-Philippine Highway (Daang Maharlika) in Caalibangbangan, Cabanatuan City.

Upon full completion of the entire alignment, CLLEX Phase 1 will cut travel time between the two cities from 70 minutes to just 20 minutes, benefiting around 11,200 daily motorists and commuters and easing traffic on Daang Maharlika Highway by about 48%.