New Subic road open until January 15

MANILA, Philippines — A new and expanded section of the 8.2-kilometer Subic Freeport Expressway (SFEX) leading to the Subic Bay Freeport Zone has been opened to motorists during the holiday season, a unit of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. said yesterday.

In a statement, the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corp. said the new SFEX road, constructed beside the existing SFEX carriageway, would remain open until Jan. 15.

“It will be closed from 6:01 p.m. to 5:59 a.m. of the next day for the continuing construction of remaining works,” NLEX Corp. said.

The new road is part of the P1.6-billion SFEX capacity expansion, which converts the SFEX to a divided expressway with the construction of two additional expressway lanes, two new bridges and a new tunnel.

This will increase the road capacity of SFEX from one to two lanes in each direction.

“The project is 92 percent complete. While there are still works to be done in some areas, we are temporarily opening the new road to ease travel of our motorists this holiday season,” Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said.

The capacity expansion project includes the installation of expressway-standard LED lights, raising of elevation of the Maritan Highway-Rizal Highway-Tipo Road junction and enhancement of drainage system.

“A series of road safety audits showed the whole project alignment except for the portion of Jadjad Bridge, which is still under construction,” NLEX Corp. said.

A pre-opening inspection to ensure safety of the SFEX section was earlier led by Toll Regulatory Board executive director Abraham Sales and NLEX vice president for tollway development and engineering Nemesio Castillo.