R8 - North Luzón Expressway

[SKYLINEPIGEON]

its always like that government has no counter funds for projects financed by multi lateral or international finanacial institutionsn like adb, imf etc etc so wht happen projects get shelved, axed, terminated postponed

[ryanr]

JBIC ready to finance road extension to La Union
By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT

Even before the start of the construction the 94.5-kilometer SubicClark-Tarlac expressway, the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) is granting P18 billion loans to extend the expressway by another 90-kilometer stretch road all the way to Rosario town in La Union.


This was revealed by Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) chairman Felicito Payumo at the sidelines of the groundbreaking of the freeport facility late last week.

According to Payumo, the proposed road would shorten the travel time from Tarlac to La Union to one and a half-hours from the current four hours. The feasibility study for the project has been completed by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

Payumo said the construction of the road extension would benefit the Baguio City Special Economic Zone particularly the American-owned Texas Instruments of the Philippines, the country’s biggest exporter.

Earlier, JBIC extended $375 million loan for the Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway and another $215 million for the Subic port development project.

Japan Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Minister Akio Egawa said at the groundbreaking of the Subic port project that the Japanese are willing to extend assistance to such projects that has massive socio-development component.

"The massive potential of this project to contribute to the socio-economic development of so many people in this part of the country is one of the main reasons the Japanese government financed the project," he said.

Egawa cited the port project to serve as the gateway and transshipment hub to and from the Asia Pacific region.

JBIC loans carried a preferential interest rate of 0.95 percent per annum payable in 40 years with a 10year grace period. The project should have a Japanese content requirement of 50 percent.

In the case of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac expressway, the first section covering the Subic-Clark covers 50.5 kilometer road while the second section covers the Clark-Tarlac section measuring 44 kilometers long.

It involves the construction of three major bridges; 14 interchanges, 36 bridges, 218 culverts, 13 overpasses and 51 underpasses.

The Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA) has awarded the project to a consortium composed of Hazama Corp., Taisei Corp., and Nippon Steel Corp.

Construction, however, of the expressway has been delayed for a month.

BCDA president and chief executive officer Rufo Colayco was still negotiating with the Japanese consortium to lower its P11-billion bid as this was 40 percent above the government budget.


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Very good news! We asked for some, they give us more!! hehe..more highways = better economic prospects for outlaying areas.

[renell]

and also faster travel time to the north. would be cool if we'd be able to drive up to Vigan using expressways alone. we traveled to Italy and Spain from Belgium using only expressways

[ryanr]

Luzon could be linked from point to point by expressway sometime in the future...it will take lots of time. Then you could take a ferry to other islands which all have expressways of their own. hehehe, thats when we become a developed country

[rico]

Originally Posted by GreyX

Luzon could be linked from point to point by expressway sometime in the future...it will take lots of time. Then you could take a ferry to other islands which all have expressways of their own. hehehe, thats when we become a developed country

nice eh. i wanna be there when it happens. malaysia was able to do it and i admire them for that. i just hope we and the other asean countries can follow.

[SunKing]

The alternative to NLEX, MacArthur Highway, these pictures are pretty old and were taken at the Pampanga part. These pictures are courtesy of Tom Utts:

1972:



1984:

[mhe-ann]

galing! old pics..yet pretty.

[ryanr]

Its not really a highway in international standards...but in Philippine standards, yup sure is!

[renell]

well the philippine definition of highway is different from what i'd usually think. my definition of highway is what they call in MM, expressway

[bagel]

A highway need not be 4 lane asphalted, no traffic. A highway can be a broad avenue, a business road, etc. As long as it's a major route that connects multiple cities, it's a highway. California Highway One passes through my town here and it's almost like the pictures above (without the flooding, though it's been known to happen in Santa Cruz every 50 years or so).

[SunKing]

Boybaha has a point, El Camino Real (California Highway 82) is near our apartment in Sunnyvale and it goes from San Jose to San Francisco, it's a pretty long highway and it passes through towns just like the Angeles section of the MacArthur Highway.

[renell]

i don't think MacArthur highway is always two-lane. in built-up areas, it becomes 4 lane, but the 2 extra are mostly occupied by buses and jeepney loading or unloading people

[ryanr]

Yup, from the looks of it, it is a 4 lane highway.

[renell]

a 4-lane highway in certain areas. but mostly it is a 2-lane highway, with the cars going northbound using the southbound lane to overtake slow tricycles or slow-ass trucks

[pau_p1]

I went to Pampanga yesterday.. and I took some pictures of the expressway...

4 lane highway


San Fernando toll gate, under construction


One of the machines installed in the toll gates.. seems like has ticket feeder..


Bocaue tollgate underconstruction (10-20 lanes i think)... this is too big.. is it that the old Balintawak toll gate will be replaced?


Meycauayan toll gate under construction

[absent-minded]

great pics!!! never been on the old NLEX, but it does seem to look much better after improvements than it would've used to for its age....! very world-class indeed....!!! is all of it four lanes? that would be great, but it probably isn't right? don't think we'd need all that space right now....

hope investments will start pouring in - especially to northern luzon, for its huge progress - after GMA is proclaimed winner... the economy can't stay like this for too long.... almost nothing moving at all right now.... hopefully, no uprisings or coups or anything of that sort will occur after whoever wins wins....

[renell]

@pau, oddly enough, i remember seeing a Balintawak interchange that big too, then i saw another one in Bocaue...

[rico]

and i don't really think bocaue needs that many toll gates especially the roads that lead to the station aren't really that wide. just 2 lane roads. one-way on each side.

unless maybe they plan of widening those roads, it would make more sense. i doubt it though coz there are already houses beside those roads.

btw. you can reach my place in bulacan via bocaue exit.

[ryanr]

Nice!! i like... Aspalt looks smooth, highway is wide, toll gates are simple but attractive...nice job. cannot wait till it is fully completed.

[pau_p1]

well.. that long toll gate plaza that I shot in Bocaue is not the Bocaue Exit toll gate.... It seems to me that it is a Toll gate plaza similar to what is in Balintawak currently....

I'm not sure if they are going to demolish that old Toll gate plaza.....

well... from Balintawak to Sta. Rita Exit, it is 4 lanes... the rest are mostly in two lanes and some are still under construction... even that long bridge between Bulacan and Pampanga...