Traveling from Tarlac City to Binalonan, Pangasinan now takes less than one hour from the previous more than two-hour ride with the recent soft opening of the Urdaneta City-Binalonan segment of the Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).
Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said the opening of the 4.92-kilometer Urdaneta City-Binalonan portion has now stretched TPLEX to 67.9 kilometers long and will benefit about 20,000 vehicles per day.
“The Duterte administration is fast-tracking the construction of all projects to ensure that communities are livable, safe and accessible. The opening of this segment would cut travel time from Tarlac to Urdaneta by over 70% and would ensure easy access to many tourist destinations in Pangasinan,” Villar said in a statement.
“This is only one of the many infrastructure investments which we hope to put in place to increase competitiveness and ease of doing business outside of Metro Manila. By improving our road network, we hope to strengthen agricultural and rural enterprise productivity as well as urban and rural tourism,” he added.
The opening of the Urdaneta-Binalonan segment has reduced travel time from Tarlac City to Urdaneta from two hours and 30 minutes to about 40 minutes.
Construction work on the next portion, the 7.53-kilometer Binalonan-Pozorrubio segment, has reached 61% and is expected to be completed by December 2016.
“We want the next segment completed in time for the Christmas season as this road would further reduce travel time to Baguio City and other areas of Northern Luzon and Cordillera,” Villar said.
The 13.38-kilometer Pozorrubio, Pangasinan to Rosario, La Union segment will be completed by April 2018.
Villar said that by 2018, the entire 88.85-kilometer stretch of TPLEX is expected to be fully operational.
The Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway is a P24.4-billion road project under a public-private partnership with Private Infra Dev Corp. as the proponent. It is a four-lane asphalt concrete pavement road, complete with shoulder, drainage, bridge, and underpass components.
Upon completion, TPLEX is expected to benefit over 100,000 vehicles per day and will cut travel time from Gerona and Paniqui in Tarlac to Rosales and Urdaneta in Pangasinan, and to Rosario in La Union.
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