Nlex Candaba viaduct expansion nears completion

Nlex Corp. said it is making significant progress on the Candaba Viaduct, with completion now estimated at approximately 70 percent as of April 22, according to a report by BusinessMirror.

Luigi Bautista, president of Nlex Corp., said in a roundtable discussion on Thursday that the company is poised to meet its target to complete the P7.89-billion project by November 2024.

“We’re approaching about 70 percent as we speak,” he told reporters, sharing that construction is currently focused on the superstructure, with coping beams largely completed and girders being erected.

The project involves the construction of a third bridge that runs between Pampanga and Bulacan. The new five-kilometer bridge is being built in the middle of the two existing viaducts to further improve safety and expand the expressway’s capacity to handle more vehicles.

Once completed, this will increase the road capacity of the entire Candaba Viaduct from three lanes without shoulders to three lanes with inner and outer shoulders in each direction.

These lanes and shoulders will be wide hence, boosting the safety and convenience of those traversing the viaduct.

“We are still on track for a November opening,” Bautista said, emphasizing the strategic segmentation of the project into three zones, a move designed to optimize the utilization of the viaduct even before its full completion.

Nlex is a subsidiary of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp.