Public Works Secretary Mark Villar inspects the ongoing construction at Phase 1 of the Central Luzon Link Expressway. DPWH photo
TARLAC CITY — A stretch of the Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEx) between this city and Aliaga, Nueva Ecija will be open to motorists by May 15.
Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said that within 90 days, the 18-kilometer section from the connection of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway and Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway in Balingcanaway, Tarlac City up to Aliaga Interchange in Nueva Ecija will be “substantially completed.”
The four-lane, 30-kilometer Phase 1 of CLLEx will cut travel time between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City from 70 minutes to just 20 minutes.
“We are seeing a quality infrastructure that will benefit around 11,200 motorists and commuters daily and ease traffic at Daang Maharlika Highway about to be delivered by the Duterte administration,” said Villar who inspected the ongoing construction.
DPWH Undersecretary for Unified Project Management Office Operations Emil Sadain disclosed that the 4.10–kilometer Tarlac Section and the 6.40–kilometer Rio Chico River Bridge Section including the 1.5-kilometer Rio Chico Viaduct were already completed.
At 78.46 percent completion is the 9.20–kilometer Aliaga Section, while the 10.30-kilometer Cabanatuan Section is 85.04 percent accomplished, Sadain added.
The P11.811-billion expressway project is part of the administration’s Build, Build, Build program focused on developing the provinces through connective infrastructure that will not only cut down travel time but also help farmers from the Philippines’ rice granary in delivering their crops to markets in Central Luzon and Metro Manila. —Carlo Lorenzo J. Datu/PIA–3
