Subic expressway capacity expansion done by end of 2020

PANGILINAN-LED NLEX Corp. said the capacity expansion of the Subic Freeport Expressway (SFEx), promising to provide smooth traffic flow to motorists, is now halfway done.

In a statement on Monday, the company said the P1.6-billion project now has a completion rate of 50 percent and will be done by year end despite its construction activities halted during the first months of enhanced community quarantine on the areas it covers due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.

Two additional expressway lanes, two new spans at the Jadjad and Argonaut bridges, and a new tunnel adjacent to the existing one are being built to transform the road into a four-lane expressway, thus improving traffic flow and road safety, NLEX Corp. said.

The 8-kilometer toll road will also be equipped with expressway-standard light-emitting diodes to promote safety, particularly for motorists driving at night.

“By increasing the road capacity of SFEx, which traverses the provinces of Bataan and Zambales, transport of goods in and out of the Subic Freeport will be faster and easier,” NLEX Corp. President and General Manager J. Luigi Bautista was quoted as saying in a statement.

“This would also mean that the expressway can accommodate more motorists at a given time,” the official added.

NLEX Corp. also operates the North Luzon Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. It is a unit of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., the tollways arm of Pangilinan-led Metro Pacific Investments Corp.