NLEX, DPWH set to open Harbor Link Segment 10

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and NLEX Corp. have assured that there will be no more delays in the opening of a project seen to improve the accessibility and connectivity between key areas of Metro Manila and the northern provinces of Luzon via the North Luzon Expressway.

Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, the elevated expressway that will traverse the cities of Valenzuela, Malabon, and Caloocan, will be open to motoring public this month.

“We are now ready to inaugurate this traffic decongestion project to help provide travel convenience and ease the traffic woes of the public. Once opened, travel time between C3 and NLEX will take approximately 10 minutes and around 30,000 vehicles are expected to use this road,” Villar said.

The project was earlier eyed to be opened late last year.

“We want to finish it completely. We could have opened it partially but we decided that if we moved it a little bit, we can finish the whole thing. It was a decision to finish the whole thing,” Villar said.

The NLEX Harbor Link is expected to advance transport logistics as it will serve as an alternative southbound route to Metro Manila, bypassing Balintawak Cloverleaf and EDSA.

It will also facilitate efficient delivery of goods as cargo trucks will have 24/7 direct access from the port area to the provinces in northern Luzon and vice versa via the NLEX.

“With this alternative route, travelers from Manila to Central and North Luzon may have shorter travel time as they can head straight to the NLEX bypassing EDSA and the Balintawak Toll Plaza,” Villar said.

NLEX, a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., said Villar was instrumental in the acceleration of the project construction activities when he formed a task force to speed up the delivery of right-of-way for the project.

To ensure the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10’s immediate completion, NLEX said Villar also initiated several site inspections and coordination meetings to ramp up the progress of this traffic decongestion project.

NLEX president and general manager Luigi Bautista said the company’s partnership with the government helped in speeding up the construction of the project, noting that “the team was able to do in two to three months the works that could have been accomplished in five to six months.”

NLEX said along with the full opening of the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is the partial opening of the new Caloocan Interchange, the fourth gateway of NLEX to Metro Manila, after Balintawak, Mindanao Avenue, and Karuhatan.

The new Caloocan Interchange serves as the point where the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10, the C3-R-10 section, and the NLEX Connector will converge. This junction is located along the PNR tracks in 5th Avenue/C3 Road in Caloocan City.