NLEX Harbor Link opens Thursday night

By Betheena Unite and Pinky C. Colmenares

By Thursday night, an elevated expressway called NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 that connects Manila and Quezon City will finally be opened, an official from the Department of Public Works and Highways confirmed Tuesday.

The opening of the 5.65-km elevated expressway was initially scheduled Tuesday but it was moved to Thursday night, Build, Build, Build Committee Chair Anna Mae Lamentillo said.

“(It will open) evening of February 28, before midnight,” Lamentillo said, noting that the opening was moved to another date because they are still conducting safety checks and pre-opening construction.

NLEX Harbor Link Segment 10 is composed of the 5.65-km elevated expressway traversing the NLEX from MacArthur Highway Karuhatan, Valenzuela City, passing through Malabon City and C3 Road, Caloocan City, and the 2.6-km section between C3 Road, Caloocan City and R10, Navotas City.

Major cut in travel time

The opening of the elevated expressway presents a major cut in the travel time from Manila to Quezon City, or vice-versa, Romulo “Junjie” Quimbo Jr., senior vice president for communication and stakeholder management, told motoring journalists Monday.

Driving from Quezon City, motorists will enter the new Harbor Link through the Mindanao Avenue entry of NLEX to the 5th Avenue of the Caloocan Interchange. The new segment will offer a 5.6-kilometer stretch of elevated expressway that spans over Valenzuela, Malabon and Caloocan.

The toll fee for that convenience is P45, Quimbo said Monday during a tour of the new elevated expressway to members of the Society of Motoring Journalists (SPMJ).

By December, NLEX expects the next 2.6-km portion of the expressway to be completed, to bring the motorist from the C3 Road in Caloocan City to exit at the Road 10 section of the new Harbor Link, in Navotas City.

R-10 leads to an intersection where the motorist can either take the road to Roxas Blvd. or the left to Claro M. Recto Avenue.

The whole stretch of the NLEX Harbor Link, when finally completed in December, will make the motorist coming from Commonwealth in Quezon City avoid the dense traffic at the Elliptical Circle, Quezon Blvd., Mabuhay Rotunda, España Avenue, and Quiapo.

After the completion of the NLEX Harbor Link, the motoring public can look forward to another elevated expressway that will decongest traffic in the Manila area. That will be the opening in 2021 of the España Interchange that will be part of the 8-kilometer NLEX-SLEX Connector Road.

https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/02/26/nlex-harbor-link-opens-thursday-night/