RDC vice chair and National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) regional director Severino Santos said this would decongest traffic at the San Simon, Pampanga toll gate and even solve traffic problems at the parallel MacArthur Highway in San Simon and Apalit towns.
The new Sto. Tomas toll gate would be constructed simultaneously with the Sto. Tomas bypass to connect the gate to the Pasac-Culcul national road.
Santos said the new toll gate would be done by the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC) while the bypass road would be under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH).
He said that pending these two projects, the DPWH is already widening the service road linking the MacArthur Highway and the NLEx San Simon exit. This, after the DPWH dismantled various illegal structures flanking the highway, mostly vulcanizing shops and vehicle repair and supply shops.
The service road would have four lanes when finished, Santos said. At present the NLEx toll gate is the only pathway of buses plying routes between Metro Manila and Southeastern Pampanga towns.
