North Luzon Expressway

; ; R-8 C-5 ; North Luzon Expressway
	North Diversion Road; Marcelo H. del Pilar Superhighway
	Map of expressways in Luzon, with the North Luzon Expressway in red
Route information
	Part of AH26
	Maintained by Tollways Management Corporation
Length	84.0 km (52.2 mi)
Component; highways	R-8 R-8; C-5 C-5; AH26 in Metro Manila and Bulacan; E1 from Metro Manila to Pampanga; E5 in Metro Manila;
Major junctions
North end	N213 (Mabalacat – Magalang Road) in Mabalacat; E1 / E4 (SCTEX) in Mabalacat;
	N3 (Jose Abad Santos Avenue) in San Fernando; N1 / AH26 (Cagayan Valley Road/Maharlika Highway) in Guiguinto; E5 (NLEX Mindanao Avenue/Karuhatan Link) in Smart Connect Interchange, Valenzuela;
South end	N1 / AH26 (EDSA) / N160 (Bonifacio Avenue) in Balintawak Cloverleaf, Quezon City
Location
Major cities	Quezon City, Caloocan, Valenzuela, Meycauayan, Malolos, San Fernando, Angeles, Mabalacat
Towns	Marilao, Bocaue, Balagtas, Guiguinto, Plaridel, Pulilan, Calumpit, Apalit, San Simon, Santo Tomas, Mexico
Highway system
	Roads in the Philippines Highways; Expressways List; ;

Logo used from 2005–2017. Still used alternatively.

The Santa Ines-bound NLEX, just north of Paso de Blas, Valenzuela

The North Luzon Expressway (NLE or NLEx), formerly known as the North Diversion Road and Manila North Expressway (MNEX), is a 4 to 8-lane limited-access toll expressway that connects Metro Manila to the provinces of the Central Luzon region in the Philippines. It is a component of Expressway Route 1 (E1) of the Philippine expressway network, Circumferential Road 5 (C-5) and Radial Road 8 (R-8) of Manila's arterial road network. It was built in the 1960s.

The expressway begins in Quezon City at the Balintawak Interchange with EDSA as a continuation of Andres Bonifacio Avenue. It then passes through Caloocan and Valenzuela in Metro Manila, and the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga in Central Luzon. It currently ends at Mabalacat and merges with the MacArthur Highway, which continues northward into the rest of Central and Northern Luzon. The segment between Santa Rita Exit in Guiguinto and the Balintawak Interchange in Quezon City is a part of the new alignment of the N1 (AH26).

The expressway, including Andres Bonifacio Avenue, has total length of 88 kilometers. The expressway segment has a length of 84 kilometres.

Originally controlled by the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC), operation and maintenance of the NLEx was transferred in 2005 to NLEX Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (a former subsidiary of the Lopez Group of Companies until 2008). A major upgrade and rehabilitation was completed in February 2005 with road now having similar qualities to a modern French tollway.

History

Balintawak Interchange in 1968

The original stretch of the expressway, from Balintawak Interchange up to Guiguinto Exit in Bulacan, was completed on August 4, 1968. It is a fully fenced limited-access highway that consisted of a four-lane rural divided roadway, nine twin bridges, one railroad overpass, seven underpasses and three interchanges.

Originally a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the completion of the major portion of the job fell on CDCP to pioneer the toll concept of funding infrastructure.^[1] It was carried out under the private financing scheme provided by Republic Act 3741.

Additional work required by the government included the construction of the Balintawak – Novaliches Interchange Complex, the Tabang Interchange, and the approach road of the underpasses.

In 1976, the NLT extension, consisting of 50.9 kilometres (31.6 mi) of concrete road, was built as part of a highways program of the International Bank for Reconstruction Development linking major urban centers to the production centers in the north. The project features a 4-lane limited-access highway with a five-kilometer Candaba Viaduct, a construction innovation utilizing precast beam system, 6 interchanges, 12 bridges, and overpass/underpass structures.^[2]

In 1989, under the Corazon Aquino administration, the expressway was extended by another 5 km from its terminus at Dau Exit up to Sta. Ines Exit in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

Starting in 2003 and until February 2005, the expressway underwent a major rehabilitation. Rehabilitation works include the widening of the Balintawak – Tabang segment from 6 to 8 lanes and the Tabang – Sta. Rita segment from 4 to 6 lanes, asphalt overlay, and the demolition of old tollbooths. The main contractor of the rehabilitation work was Leighton Contractors Pty. Ltd (Australia) with Egis Projects, a company belonging to the French Groupe Egis as the main subcontractor for the toll, telecommunication and traffic management systems. To help maintain the safety and quality of the expressway, various rules are in effect, such as restricting the left lane to passing vehicles only and banning overloaded trucks.

After the rehabilitation, the operations and maintenance of the expressway was transferred from the state-owned Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC) to the Manila North Tollways Corporation/NLEX Corporation (MNTC).

In June 5, 2010, the NLEx Segment 8.1 or the NLEX Mindanao Avenue Link, a four lane, 2.34 kilometres (1.45 mi) spur road that runs from Mindanao Avenue to the SMART Connect Interchange in Valenzuela City was opened. The spur road is a part of the C-5 Road North Extension and is supposed to provide another entry point to the expressway from Metro Manila and decongest the Balintawak Interchange. In March 18, 2015, NLEX Segment 9 or the NLEX Karuhatan Link was opened, a 4.06 kilometer long continuation of Segment 8.1 that runs from the SMART Connect Interchange to MacArthur Highway.

Route description

North Luzon Tollway/NLEX Main

The North Luzon Tollway (NLT) or NLEX Main cuts northwards from Manila to the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga. The expressway parallels MacArthur Highway from Quezon City to Mabalacat in Pampanga. It has 8 lanes from Balintawak Interchange to Balagtas Interchange, 6 lanes from Balagtas Interchange to San Fernando Exit, and 4 lanes from San Fernando to Sta. Ines Exit. The expressways has bridges that cross seven rivers. Some portions of the expressway are lined with billboards, including its viaduct portion. Various high voltage overhead power lines, most notably the Hermosa-Duhat-Balintawak transmission line, operated and maintained by National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), utilize the significant portion of the expressway route as the densely populated areas hinder acquisition of dedicated right of way.

Balintawak-Balagtas

Northbound lane of NLEx in Lawang Bato-Lingunan area, Valenzuela, before the construction of Dulalila Overpass.

The expressway starts at Balintawak Interchange as a physical continuation of Bonifacio Avenue. A few meters after the cloverleaf is the Quirino Highway, with a northbound exit ascends into the flyover. The Reparo Road will parallel the expressway from Novaliches Exit to Eternal Gardens Memorial Park. A Libis Baesa Exit can be seen near the memorial park but it only serves a southbound lane. The road approaches to Balintawak toll plaza, widening to 17 lanes and only serving northbound. The offices of NLEX Corporation is located near the toll plaza. A new toll gate was built between a northbound and southbound lanes servicing Class 1 vehicles and opened in 2017.

The number of lanes will return to 4, continues straightward, passes to Tullahan River through the Tullahan Bridge, intersects with General T. De Leon Street, and passes the Smart Connect Interchange. It then passes through industrial areas and businesses within Valenzuela. An East Service Road starts paralleling the expressway before Paso de Blas exit. On Valenzuela Exit, a Puregold supermarket and Malinta Market can be seen between it. The road continues on a straight route, with a Caltex service area located near the Dulalia overpass, until it enters Bulacan.

Southbound lane of NLEx in Barangay Taal, Bocaue

It crosses to Meycauayan River and after a few meters is the Meycauayan Exit to serve its town proper. Another service road named St. Francis Service Road that is located beside the expressway's southbound lane. It passes through residential areas and institutions within the municipality, intersects with Lias Road, and continues straightforward. On Marilao, there is a Petron service area and after it are the Marilao River and its exit. It enters Bocaue after Marilao Exit, where Ciudad de Victoria and the Philippine Arena lies to the east. The road turns eastward to serve Bocaue toll plaza, with a southbound lane being widened to 22 lanes with 4 from a service road making a grand total of 26 lanes, and on the middle of it is a newly built toll plaza and road. It turns westward, passes through Bocaue Exit, Santa Maria River, and Taal Bridge, and continues on a straight direction until Balagtas Interchange. Before it are the Petron for southbound and Shell for northbound lanes. Past Shell service area is the Tabang Spur Road and Balagtas Interchange which was opened on March 20, 2012. This is the former terminus of the original segment of an expressway from 1967 to 1976 before it is extended to Dau.

Balagtas-San Fernando

A typical section of NLEX near the Santa Rita interchange in Guiguinto. Street lights can be seen on the middle of a road from where a grass median was located before the widening project in 2016.

The expressway reduces the number of lanes into three starting on Tabang Spur Road. It continues on a straight route, passes through Guiguinto River, Shell of Asia service area, Metro Warehouse Bulacan, Santa Rita Exit – the north end of AH26/N1 portion of NLEX.

Candaba Viaduct, before the construction of the new lane

A few meters after Pulilan Exit is the Candaba Viaduct (officially known as Pulilan-Apalit Bridge). The bridge passes on a ricefields that are located within the municipalities of Pulilan, Calumpit and Apalit, and Pampanga River before the viaduct ends. (For more information about a route description of the viaduct, see Candaba Viaduct). The expressway continues straightforward, passes through Total and Caltex service areas, San Simon Exit, Abacan and San Fernando Rivers, and San Fernando Exit. The SM City Pampanga and Robinsons Starmills Pampanga malls are seen from the expressway.

San Fernando-Sta.Ines

The 4-lane segment of NLEX in Pampanga

An overpass at the SCTEX Exit, before the 2016 expansion

After San Fernando Exit, the expressway narrows into 2 lanes, both northbound and southbound. It continues as a straight roadway, passing through Paskuhan Village, Petron Lakeshore, Mexico Exit, Acle and Biyabas Overpass, Shell southbound service area, Raslag Solar Power Plant, Abacan and Quitangil Rivers, Angeles Exit (formerly a parclo interchange), Marquee Mall, former location of Dau Toll Plaza, Sapang Bago Bridge, Dau and SCTEX Exits, Mawaque Road, and it ends at Sta. Ines Interchange, with a toll plaza to serve an exit. The segment between SCTEX and Sta. Ines Exit used to be a two-lane road but has since widened into four lanes.

Tabang Spur Road

Tabang Spur Road

Tabang Spur Road is a spur road which branches out of the main alignment of NLEX at Balagtas and proceeds to MacArthur Highway at Guiguinto Exit. The entire spur is located in Guiguinto. It starts at an interchange with MacArthur Highway and will pass to Tabang Toll Plaza, where the offices of Tollways Management Corporation are located. It will cross the Guiguinto River through the Guiguinto Bridge and pass the river is an overpass. The road continues eastward and another overpass named Tabe 1 Overpass crosses the road. It will turn westward and cross the PNR Railway and Sapang Ugong River through PNR and Sapang Ugong bridges, respectively. The road turns eastward for the eastbound vehicles and westward for those entering the spur road, where it ends and enters the NLEX Main.

Mindanao and Karuhatan Link

The Mindanao Link (Segment 8.1) of the NLEx looking west towards the Smart Connect Interchange.

The Mindanao and Karuhatan Link starts with MacArthur Highway on Valenzuela where the link to the future NLEX Segment 10 will be built. It will reach the Karuhatan toll plaza and continues eastward until it intersects the NLEX Main which is called Smart Connect Interchange. The level of a road will lower past the interchange. It will pass to Que Grande, where its overpass is located. It enters Quezon City, with another overpass located on this portion and past that is the Mindanao Avenue toll plaza. After the toll plaza, it will parallel to Detour Road and ends on Mindanao Avenue.

NLEX Segment 10

NLEX Segment 10 starts on a western terminus of Mindanao and Karuhatan Link. It intersects with A. Pablo St., passes through Lienado and Araneta Subdivisions, Tullahan River, and Gov. Pascual Avenue. The highway enters Caloocan, where it will pass Samson Avenue and various establishments within the city.

Future expansion

Segment 8.2

The NLEx Segment 8.2 will be a 7.85 kilometres (4.88 mi) segment that will connect NLEx segment 8.1 to C-5 Road and Commonwealth Avenue. The planned segment will at first run parallel to Republic Avenue before making a southward turn to Luzon Avenue after which it will then connect to Commonwealth Avenue. The segment will include two interchanges in Mindanao and Regalado Avenues, a roundabout connection at Congressional Avenue, and three local road crossings at Quirino, Sauyo, and Chestnut Avenues.^[3]

Segment 10.1 (NLEX-Harbor Link)

Under-construction NLEX Segment 10 in Sangandaan, Caloocan

The NLEX Segment 10 is a four lane, 5.65 kilometres (3.51 mi) elevated expressway that runs from the NLEX Karuhatan Link to C-3 road. This segment will be open to traffic in January 2019 and the R-10 road section will be completed by June 2019.

NLEX-SLEX Connector Road

There are plans for a construction of an elevated road to connect North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX).

The government has reportedly accepted an unsolicited proposal from Metro Pacific Tollways Development Corporation (MPTDC) to build the 13.24 kilometres (8.23 mi) road. MPTDC is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), which runs NLEX.

Known as the Connector Road project, the elevated expressway will have run over the Philippine National Railways tracks until terminating to the Skyway Stage 3 Interchange.

It will be connected in the north to Segment 10, which will soon be constructed through the cities of Caloocan and Valenzuela. In the south, it will be linked to the skyway near PUP in Sta. Mesa. Once completed, the Connector Road will have four entry and exit points: C-3 Road in Caloocan, España, Quirino Avenue in Manila and terminating through the Skyway Stage 3 Interchange in Sta, Mesa Manila. This project will be open to traffic on February 2022.

Construction of the project is estimated to cost ₱17 billion, but as an "all-elevated" structure, right-of-way acquisition shall be reduced to an estimated cost of only ₱2.41 billion. Construction is anticipated to start when NLEX Karuhatan Link and Segment 10 are complete.

NLEX Phase 3

This consists of three segments with an approximate length of 58 km from San Simon, Pampanga to Dinalupihan, Bataan connecting to Segment 7 in Subic Freeport.

Technical specifications

Name: North Luzon Expressway
Concession holder: NLEX Corporation
Operator: Tollways Management Corporation
Length: 84 km
Concession starting date: February 10, 2005
Concession ending date: December 31, 2037
Highway exits: 15
Lanes: 8 lanes (4 lanes), 6 lanes (3 lanes), and 4 lanes (2 lanes)
Toll plazas: 6
Rest and Service Areas: 8
Minimum Height Clearance on Underpasses: 4.27 m (14')

Tolls

Bocaue Toll Plaza in Bulacan

The tollway has two sections: an open section and a closed section.^[4] The open section (within Metro Manila) charges a flat toll based on vehicle class and is employed to reduce the number of toll barriers (and associated bottlenecks) within the metropolis. The closed section is distance-based, charging based on the class of vehicle and distance traveled. When the expressway was modernized, an electronic toll collection system was set up for Class 1 vehicles while prepaid magnetic cards were assigned to Class 2 and 3 vehicles to speed up transactions at toll booths. These have since been replaced by a unified ETC system operated by Easytrip. As of October 1, 2011, all tolls (as shown below) include the 12% Value-Added Tax (VAT). With the movement of the northernmost toll gate to Sta. Ines, the NLEX and SCTEX toll systems have been merged into one combined system, with tolls for all enclosed destinations listed.

Class	Open system (Balintawak-Marilao)	Closed system (Bocaue-Sta.Ines/SCTEX)
Class 1 (cars, motorcycles, SUVs, jeepneys)	₱45	₱2.66/km
Class 2 (buses, light trucks)	₱114	₱6.66/km
Class 3 (heavy trucks)	₱136	₱8.00/km

Features

NLEX rumble strips approaching Balintawak Toll Barrier

Street lights (Balintawak-San Fernando)
Variable message signs
Rumble strips
Emergency telephones (every 2 km in the Balintawak-Burol segment, every 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) in the Burol-Sta. Ines segment)
Runaway truck ramp
Rest and service areas (privately owned and operated)
Closed-circuit television
Guard rails
Impact attenuators
Solid wall fence
Lighting arrestors
Car density sensors underneath road surface
Hidden speed guns
Electronic toll payment (class 1), prepaid account cards (class 2/3)
Much of the expressway has been built to U.S. Interstate highway standards, featuring eight lanes through Metro Manila. As it enters the more rural area north of Manila, the expressway narrows to 6 and then 4 lanes with a grass median to separate the two carriageways.
- All signage is in English, and are nearly identical to the "big green signs" (BGS) on American expressway, including white lettering on a green background, with the exit tab in the upper-right corner (distance signs even employ a font similar—if not identical—to the Caltrans font; all other signs employ a different font).
- Like expressways in most American states, the NLEx uses a distance-based sequencing for numbering interchanges. Being a metric country, though, the system is kilometer-log rather than mile-log—exits numbered according to the distance (in kilometers) from Rizal Park in Manila, which is designated as "Kilometer Zero" in Luzon.

Technical information

Lanes

NLEX in San Simon, before the ongoing expansion project of 2016

The NLEX has 8 lanes, 4 lanes in both directions from the Balintawak to Burol segment, 6 lanes with 3 lanes for both directions on the Burol to San Fernando segment and 4 lanes with 2 lanes for both directions on the Tabang Spur and San Fernando to Santa Ines segment. Before the lane expansion project of 2016, there was even a part of the NLEX which consists of only 2 lanes, one for each direction. This segment is located after passing through the SCTEx Exit (Northbound)^[5] but has since been expanded into four lanes.

Speed limit

100 km/h for cars and jeepneys, 80 km/h for trucks and buses, and 60 km/h is the minimum for all classes of vehicles. Speed limits are strictly enforced via CCTV cameras and speed guns, and speeders are usually identified as soon as they hit the tollbooth.

Major upgrade

San Fernando Toll Plaza in Pampanga, before the 2005 rehabilitation

The upgrade consisted of rebuilding of roads and building new toll plazas. Launched in the beginning of 2003 and completed in February 2005, the roadway now has modern features explained above.

Drainage enhancement program

The entire stretch of the expressway underwent another rehabilitation regarding its drainage systems. The expressway is known to be flooded during the rainy season and the goal of the project is to fix the drainage systems within the road to prevent flooding. Within this period, certain lanes of the road were closed to the traffic. This in turn caused massive traffic jams along the road and the speed limit on the construction sites were reduced from 80/100 km/h to 60 km/h.

The program started on 12 February 2007 and finished on 7 October 2007.

Shareholder companies

Philippine National Construction Corporation
Metro Pacific Investments Corporation
Leighton Asia Limited
Egis Projects S.A of France

Services

Emergency phones and parking bays

Emergency telephone boxes are located throughout the whole length of the expressway. Parking bays (lay-bys) are also placed on regular intervals on the expressway, for use in emergency situations.

Service areas

North Luzon Expressway has 7 service areas, mostly located on the closed toll section north of Bocaue. Each service station hosts a gas station, restaurants and a convenience store, as well as ATMs and restrooms, with the exception of Petron in Valenzuela, which only has a Petron gas station, San Mig Food Ave convenience store, and car repair and lubrication services.

Exits

NLEX as seen from Camachile Flyover in Quezon City. Also seen here is the Novaliches Exit.

Exit numbers are based on kilometer post. Exits begin at 9 because the NLEx is a logical continuation of Andres Bonifacio Avenue. Rizal Park is designated as Kilometer Zero.