At present, north- and southbound vehicles alternate on the stretch while the upgrading work is being rushed.
Robbie Tanada, external relations and marketing manager of the Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), said the completion would cushion the normal heavy traffic as Metro Manilans trek to the north to observe All Saints Day.
MNTC president Jose de Jesus said the asphalting of the southbound 17.5-kilometer stretch of the expressway from Dau in Mabalacat to San Fernando would also be finished by next week.
"By January next year, the entire Candaba-San Fernando southbound carriageway will also be finished," he said.
De Jesus also reported 25-percent completion of the entire NLE project which is expected to be fully "rehabilitated, upgraded and modernized" late next year.
Civil works from Balintawak to Sta. Ines in Mabalacat are expected to be completed by June 2004.
"A total of 132 lane kilometers will be added to the existing 337 lane kilometers," De Jesus said.
Based on 1998 cost factors, motorists would be charged about P2.83 per kilometer once the P18.5-billion NLE project is fully operational.
The final toll, however, would depend on the peso-dollar exchange and inflation rates when the MNTC assumes operation of the upgraded NLE from the Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC) by the end of next year, De Jesus said.
"But it will be well worth it, comparable to the best in the world" said De Jesus, adding that the toll would still be the lowest in the world.
By May next year, all the eight lanes from Balintawak, Quezon City to Burol in Balagtas, Bulacan, six lanes from Burol to Sta. Ines in Guiguinto, Bulacan, and the rest of the 84-kilometer NLE up to Mabalacat, Pampanga would be fully open to traffic.
Work, however, will continue on three new interchanges, two new flyovers, several pedestrian overpasses, additional toll gates in Balintawak and Bocaue, and the expansion and improvement of existing interchanges.
The new interchanges would be in Angeles City and Mexico in Pampanga, and Marilao in Bulacan.