R3ext - Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR Tollway)

[Colonel Burger]

Originally Posted by barrera_marquez

una, imposibleng manakaw ang mga ilaw ng NLEx kasi mamamatay muna sila dahil sa nasagasaan sila ng mga sasakyan.

pangalawa, DPWH states that only urban areas need lights. other than that, pwedeng wala na.

pangatlo, they don't need to pay electricity dahil sister company nila Meralco. Hindi ba Lopez ang MNTC?

It does not work that way. Kahit na Lopez ang MNTC, there is a principle in accounting called business entitiy. which means the owner is different from the business.

in simple words, though the two companies have the same owner, the two are different entities and the 2 maintains their own books and are not related to each other except that they have the same shareholders. therefore, MNTC has to pay every ounce of electricity that they get from Meralco.

[PasigGuy]

Originally Posted by anonymous_filipino

I think all bridges should be lighted, just like in the States.

Yes that's true, normally sa mga interchanges lang ang lighted

[dabomeister]

We are hoping that the other phase of this project would push thru, and eventually link Quezon province to the Star tollway!

Pilipinas... Quezon Naman!

[absinthe_888]

di ba may proposal to extend slex all the way to lucena city...sana bago matapos ang 2020 this will be a reality..

[Goku_25]

Originally Posted by barrera_marquez

Meron na palang nagawang 4-lane expressway ang DPWH pero hindi aspalto, I'd say its better than a 2 lane asphalt expressway but a total loser to a modern expressway like NLEx. Yeah, NLEx is the big daddy of all expressways here in the Philippines because of its amenities.

Hi there, STAR Tollway might be all-concrete surface expressway. Look at the expressways of the US, some of them have concrete surface, others have asphalt surface.

I am also hoping that they should plan to put an asphalt overlay to that expressway.

[apiong]

on the way back to Cuenca from Lipa City, we decided to take the "long cut" through the Star Tollway to check out this segment of the expressway... surprisingly, the Lipa to Batangas segment is much smoother than the old Sto. Tomas to Lipa segment:

[FerrariLover]

Wonder why there are few motorists in this highway?????

[barrera_marquez]

Originally Posted by apiong

on the way back to Cuenca from Lipa City, we decided to take the "long cut" through the Star Tollway to check out this segment of the expressway... surprisingly, the Lipa to Batangas segment is much smoother than the old Sto. Tomas to Lipa segment:

The road is ready for expansion into four lanes... since nandyan na at nakahanda na yung pagtatayuan ng susunod na carriageway... nai-imagine ko na tuloy ang kahihinatnan ng Tarlac-La Union Expressway...

[FrancisXavier]

kelan nila plano gawin yung 2 more lanes?

[Goku_25]

Originally Posted by apiong

on the way back to Cuenca from Lipa City, we decided to take the "long cut" through the Star Tollway to check out this segment of the expressway... surprisingly, the Lipa to Batangas segment is much smoother than the old Sto. Tomas to Lipa segment:

Lipa-Batangas segment is smoother than the old Sto. Tomas-Lipa Segment coz it's newly-built but it will be dilapidated by later years if not maintained properly. The STAR Tollway management should planned to pave that Sto. Tomas-Lipa Segment with a fresh layer of asphalt.

[apiong]

Originally Posted by Goku_25

Lipa-Batangas segment is smoother than the old Sto. Tomas-Lipa Segment coz it's newly-built but it will be dilapidated by later years if not maintained properly. The STAR Tollway management should planned to pave that Sto. Tomas-Lipa Segment with a fresh layer of asphalt.

we've been plying the Sto. Tomas to Lipa segment of the STAR Tollway ever since it opened and the concrete road surface has been bumpy even when it was still new, specially the Malvar to Lipa stretch... the Malvar/Tanauan to Sto. Tomas stretch is smoother I think because it was the stretch handled by the Japanese contractors while the the Malvar to Lipa stretch was handled by DPWH... which would explain the bumpy concrete finish? (do correct me if this info is inaccurate).

But I do agree, the STAR Tollway needs an asphalt overlay in its Sto. Tomas to Lipa segment.

[Colonel Burger]

We went to anilao about 3 weeks ago. traveresed the whole expressway all the way to batangas city..... I hit a bird while travelling at 170Kph. i thought my wind shield will shatter into pieces.... anyway, they should do something about those birds for the sake of the motorists' safety.

[barrera_marquez]

Originally Posted by Colonel Burger

We went to anilao about 3 weeks ago. traveresed the whole expressway all the way to batangas city..... I hit a bird while travelling at 170Kph. i thought my wind shield will shatter into pieces.... anyway, they should do something about those birds for the sake of the motorists' safety.

E di duguan po winshield ninyo colonel?

[Colonel Burger]

Originally Posted by barrera_marquez

E di duguan po wind shield ninyo colonel?

hindi naman.... the bird just bounced off the wind shield. i don't know what happend next to the poor bird.

[manchowyin]

They should put up a warning for birds that says: Caution. Cars at 170 kph.

[kratos1211]

BusinessWorld
Vol. XXI, No. 216
Wednesday, June 4, 2008 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Tito Hermoso

Of southern comfort and roundabouts

It’s always good to go places where PGMA has just inaugurated something. Having cut the ceremonial ribbon on the new Lipa-Batangas City/Port portion of the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) Tollway recently, the entire 40-kilometer length was sporting a neat grass cut with mud erosion kept to the side.

It’s really difficult though, to halt the scourge of our countryside: white and blue cellophane thin plastic bags littered the red earth. Afternoon rains now wash Batangas in high summer. So PGMA did not come upon the Balagtas roundabout at the southern end of the tollway the way I did; partly inundated with chunks of asphalt lapping against the curb stones.

For P44, from Sto. Tomas to Batangas City, one can avoid the unpredictable snail’s pace traffic of the old four-lane national highway. Another victim of linear development, billions have been spent on several upgrades but the unrestricted opening of intersections and roadside enterprises attract the stop anywhere, park anywhere culture of jeeps, provincial buses and tricycles. Traffic sometimes comes to a standstill because of the Filipino driver’s penchant to the cure-all that hurts all; counterflow. Authorities should criminalize this practice as it brings traffic to an instant Mexican standoff. The length of time needed to restore order does not even include writing traffic citations, which hardly happens.

If one is expecting anything like the NLEx or SCTEx, well, let’s just be grateful that it opened at all considering that the finance and contractual obligations of the STAR operators are not in the same world-class league as the NLEx or SCTEx. From Tambo exit/Lipa city, the new section is single carriageway, made of Philippine standard coarse concrete with tarmac emergency shoulders. Signage for exit names and prohibitions are international standard except for one by the still unfinished San Jose-Ibaan junction. It was a red edged round sign, with a fork in the road icon that warns of merging traffic. The proper sign for this purpose uses a white font on a blue borderless background. On the other hand, the posted minimum speed of 60 km/h — white numerals on a blue edge-less background — is correct. The double yellow no overtaking lines on curves are generous for impatient drivers.

The STAR has always been as scenic as Batangas is green all year round. There are nice vistas over some gullies, bridged by viaducts and even the Transco power pylons marching in the distance, over thick foliage, are a sight. Tollway engineers built concrete armored drainage ditches on the side of the road which will need extensive guard rails to be installed on the off side to prevent wayward vehicles from falling into the ditch. A typical 18-wheeler that jackknifes and plunges into this ditch will need a 40-ton crane to extricate it. The operators are right in fielding security guards by the fences and some unfinished local overpasses as thefts are becoming the biggest enemy of public investment in infrastructure. STAR tollway patrols are a mix of pick-up trucks and motorcycles that can traverse the muddy median. The motorcycle patrol riders in grey overalls should soon be needing fluorescent yellow vests and reflective bands for better visibility, though they observe international practice by keeping their bike lights on all the time, day or night. At any rate, the STAR’s new section should speed up the transit stage of trucks delivering to and from the Batangas port and the ecozones of Laguna, Cavite and the distribution depots of Metro Manila. And when the San Jose-Ibaan interchange opens, I will be curious to see if it’s a viable, though longer, alternate route to avoid progressive but crowed Lipa City, on the way to the Batangas Racing Circuit.

There is plenty of room for hope. The South Luzon Tollway-Alabang viaduct’s southbound structural deck is now visible as all traffic now takes the east side carriageway. The changing chicanes around the river bridges from Southwoods to Batino are starting to become a habit to regular SLEX sufferers/commuters. If only work by MTD Construction Philippines started with widening the river bridges first, we wouldn’t have this daily chicane torture. They should also blacken the disused white lane road markings so that drivers follow the correct yellow lane markings. It’s not too late to adopt on the four-lane Southwoods to Filinvest section the staged closure and adaptive realignment Leighton did when it reconstructed the NLEx. That system guaranteed at least two full decent lanes (with emergency space to spare) on both directions instead of this maze of walled paths that lead to confusing lane transitions and turns too sharp for eight-wheelers.

The Skyway’s twisting beam contractor, FF Cruz, is able to install and turn two beams every 25 days or so and with 10 pillars to go, it will be October when they run out of finished pillars and the real serious work of digging and putting up pillars (200?) from Bicutan to Alabang begins. But the best portion to hope for is the portion that should have been built 10 years ago. Even on a public holiday, vehicles crossing out of Makiling or commuters coming out of First Industrial Park and Carmelray can cause long jams up to the Sto. Tomas STAR plaza along the National Highway. At the end of South Luzon tollway, I finally saw the relief residents of Greenfield Ayala have long been waiting for. Mounds of earth, mowed and graded, taking shape to form the foundation of the dual carriageway missing link of SLT Calamba to the Sto. Tomas junction. When this opens, it leaves the notorious Tagaytay-Mendez-Evercrest ridge highway as the worst bottle neck to avoid.

Lastly, I am glad engineers are reviving the use of roundabouts (NLEx) where space permits. Roundabouts, like trams, have had a global revival of sorts. It reserves public space, sufficient to fit a grade separated junction (overpass/underpass) when future traffic demands. It also avoids the drunk driver induced T-bone collision all so common on four-way junctions as a roundabout either corrals the drunks to bear right to the side or allows them go straight into the central mound.

The problem is several generations of drivers do not understand roundabout right of way. Stand at the American cemetery Rotunda in Fort Bonifacio on any day and you will see motorcycles, jeeps and delivery vans take the short-cut and turn left to go against the traffic flow. We can’t legislate against these stubborn drivers but we can always design a road that makes it easier for them to follow the right way.

[jun_of]

I had the chance to travel this expressway from Sto Tomas to Lipa City 5/23/08 - The ride is bumpy compared to NLEX and SCTEX but nevertheless faster and more scenic than the old national highways.

Sto Tomas Entrance










Lipa City Exit

[anonymous_filipino]

I really hope that the management of STAR Tollway Corporation will open their eyes and immediately paved STAR Tollway with high quality asphalt like the ones on the NLEx and SCTEx. Once they have the money they can modernize the expressway up to the par of NLEx

[crappypants]

beautiful so lush and green.

[Goku_25]

Any Updates about STAR Tollway?