CCLEX partially opens on July 15

The Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) opened to the motoring public on July 15, 2021.

This was announced by DPWH Secretary Mark Villar who conducted the final inspection of the four (4)-lane expressway project connecting Tarlac and Nueva Ecija a day before.

“As declared a month ago, we will inaugurate on Thursday, July 15, 2021, the first 18-kilometer section of CLLEX from Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX)/Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX) connection in Tarlac City up to the intersection of Aliaga-Guimba Road in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija”, said Secretary Villar.

Secretary Villar was joined in the conduct of final safety checking before this new road network is opened to vehicular traffic by Undersecretary for Unified Project Management Office (UPMO) Operations Emil K. Sadain, and Project Director Benjamin A. Bautista.

This toll-free expressway project implemented by DPWH UPMO-Roads Management Cluster 1 is one of the key infrastructure projects with funding assistance from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the Build, Build, Build program.

The partial opening of CLLEX up to Aliaga is expected to provide options to motorists and spread out traffic better.

According to Undersecretary Sadain, the CLLEX sections covered by three (3) contract packages that will be opened are the 4.10 kilometer Tarlac Section, 6.40 kilometer Rio Chico River Bridge Section including 1.5 km Rio Chico Viaduct, and the Aliaga Section with up and down ramps at Guimba-Aliaga Road.

DPWH is committed to complete the entire 30-kilometer expressway project within the term of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte with the 10.3 kilometer Cabanatuan Section under Contract Package 4 already at 88.7 percent while the Zaragoza Interchange Section under Contract Package 5 is at 26.9 percent and expected to gain significant progress as site possessions are secured for the project’s right of way (ROW) requirements.

Once fully operational, the P30-Billion expressway is expected to shorten the usual travel time of 70 minutes between Tarlac City and Cabanatuan City to just 20 minutes.

This new expressway will also form an important east-west link for the expressway network of Central Luzon to ensure a continuous seamless traffic flow for the motoring public from Metro Manila and vice versa passing thru North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union Expressway (TPLEX).