North Luzon Expressway



The North Luzon Expressway (NLE or NLEx), and which is formerly called theNorth Diversion Road and Manila North Expressway (MNEX), and officially known as Radial Road 8 is a 4 to 8-lane limited-access toll expressway that connects Metro Manila to the provinces of the Central Luzon region in thePhilippines. It is one of the two branches of the Radial Road 8 (R-8) of Metro Manila (Quirino Highway is the other). It was built in the 1960s.

The expressway begins in Quezon City at a cloverleaf interchange with EDSA: a continuation of Andres Bonifacio Avenue. It then passes through Quezon City,Caloocan, and Valenzuela in Metro Manila. Meycauayan, Marilao, Bocaue,Balagtas, Guiguinto, Malolos, Plaridel, and Pulilan in Bulacan. San Simon, San Fernando, Mexico and Angeles in Pampanga. The expressway currently ends at Mabalacat and merges with the MacArthur Highway, which continues northward into the rest of Central and Northern Luzon.

There is a direct interchange between the North Luzon Expressway and theSubic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway. The interchange is located 3 km. north of Sta. Ines Exit. Formerly the Spur/NLE exit served as the connection between the expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

The expressway, including Andres Bonifacio Avenue, has total length of 88 kilometers. The expressway segment has a length of 84 kilometres.

Originally controlled by the Philippine National Construction Corporation or PNCC, operation and maintenance of the NLEx was transferred in 2005 to the Manila North Tollways Corporation, a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (formerly, it was the subsidiary of the Lopez Group of Companiesuntil 2008). A major upgrade and rehabilitation has been completed in February 2005 and the road has now similar qualities as a modern French tollway. The main contractor of the rehabilitation work was Leighton Contractors Pty. Ltd (Australia) with Egis Projects, a company belonging to the French Groupe Egis as the main subcontractor for the toll, telecommunication and traffic management systems. To help maintain the safety and quality of the expressway, various rules are in effect, such as restricting the left lane to passing vehicles only and banning overloaded trucks.