Ilocos to Bicol in 8 Hours? PH's Biggest Road Network Could Make It Happen!

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One Day, traveling Luzon mainland from end to end will only take less than half-day. Thanks to these road projects!

I love knowing that after decades, the PH government prioritized again the infrastructures that will mainly help us with our transportation throughout the country. The "Build, Build, Build" is the biggest initiative of Duterte's administration which has the most of the country's budget.

Connecting North and South Luzon

The Luzon Spine Expressway is a 1,040 km network that aims to build an additional 18 expressways with a total road length of 655 km. It would then connect to the existing 12 expressway network spanning 385 km.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar hopes that the new high standard highways will significantly ease the traffic and cut down travel time.

Once TPLEX is completed, travel time from Metro Manila to La Union will be reduced from about six hours to just over three hours. So it will be possible that going from the Ilocos region to Bicol will only take about eight hours from the current 20+ hours.

RELATED: Manila to Baguio in Just 3 Hours via TPLEX

La Union to Bicol travel time will also be reduced from from 19 hours and 40 minutes to eight (8) hours and 15 minutes.

Before the end of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, travel time from Alabang to Quezon City will be reduced from over two hours to only 20 minutes.

RELATED: South East Metro Manila Expressway - is it the most awaited answer to our congested traffic in the metro?

NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10

Now that the NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is open, traversing the cities of Valenzuela, Malabon, and Caloocan will provide efficient delivery of goods as cargo trucks will have 24/7 direct access from the port area to the provinces in northern Luzon and vice versa.

DPWH Secretary Mark Villar said the newly-constructed road project will help decongest major thoroughfares in the National Capital Region and will also lessen travel time between Quezon City and Manila to just 15 to 20 minutes.

NLEX-SLEX Connector Road

The NLEX-SLEX Connector Road, an eight-kilometer all-elevated four-lane expressway, which will traverse C3 road in Caloocan City passing through Blumentritt and España, is expected to decongest Metro Manila traffic and provide better access to seaports and airports.

It will extend the NLEX Southward from the end of Segment 10 in C3 Road in Caloocan to PUP Sta. Mesa in Manila and will connect to the Skyway Stage 3—a 4.8-kilometer, six-lane expressway which will connect Balintawak in Quezon City to Buendia in Makati.

SLEX Toll Road 4 & 5

This is a new four (4)-lane toll road from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Tayabas/Lucena City in Quezon, 66.74 km. long. The road is expected to reduce travel time along the 58-kilometer stretch between Sto. Tomas and Lucena from 4 hours to 1 hour.

The construction of this road is expected to be finished in 2022.

READ ALSO: Panay-Guimaras-Negros Island Bridge

QUEZON-BICOL EXPRESSWAY

The project starts at Pagbilao, Quezon, and end at the Maharlika Highway in San Fernando, Camarines Sur.

“The project will have an indicative length of approximately 220 kilometers and will be an alternative option of travel from Quezon and the Bicol provinces,” DPWH added.

The agency said the project aimed to provide a fast and developed alternative for commuters to use since the original road being traversed by the people will go through the “poblacions” of the different municipalities.

It will also provide a safe and direct route to the provinces of Bicol since the original route traverses through the mountainside and other fragmentary roads.

Then, traveling Alabang to Bicol Boundary will only take less than 5 hours via connected expressways in the south. That makes it more or less 8 hours in total.

ALSO READ: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao will be connected soon!

So if you are going to drive from North to South (of Luzon) or vice versa, you can just take these following roads/highways:

From La Union, take TPLEX
Enter SCTEx
Continue to NLEx
Enter NLEX-SLEX Connector Road (Metro Manila SkyWay)
Enter SLEx
Continue to SLEx Toll Roads 4 and 5
Enter Quezon-Bicol Expressway
Exit to San Fernando, Camarines Sur

Watch this:

Once all these projects are completed Metro Manila’s main arteries like EDSA, C5, Quezon Avenue, Araneta Avenue and Quirino Avenue will be decongested by at least 130,000 vehicles daily.

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