On Monday, the Clark Development Corp. (CDC) opened the Clark East Perimeter Road which runs parallel to the east perimeter fence of this freeport and the MacArthur Highway from the Mabalacat Gate to SM City Clark.
The P127.5 million, twolane road project is 5.5-kilometers long. It measures 3.5-meter width per lane and has several sharp curves and bends as well as a bridge spanning the Quitangil River.
Motorists noted that it takes only five minutes travel time from the Mabalacat Gate to SM City Clark and vice versa instead of the usual 30 minutes or more travel time traversing the busy MacArthur Highway.
It can be recalled that the Clark-Mabalacat East Perimeter Road project was conceptualized by Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales in 2014 after presenting it to then CDC president and now Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade to help ease traffic in the busy MacArthur Highway.
The CDC had announced that the road project will be finished in March 2016 but it was obviously delayed until now.
According to Eric Jimenez, acting manager of the CDC-public relations department, the said road project will be formally opened on November 21 with Tugade as special guest.
Jimenez said the newly- opened road is seen to greatly ease vehicular traffic along the MacArthur Highway from Mabalacat to Angeles cities.
He added that the road project was funded by the CDC which is part of the master plan to improve the traffic fl ow at the main entrance of this freeport.
Engr. Eduardo Castro of Haidee Construction and Development Corp. which contracted the road project, said the new road will greatly favor SM City Clark.
“The outcome is really good. I can visualize it. This may even look like a boulevard,’’ he added.
