Thursday, February 8, 2018

NLEX Expansion, Enhancements and Excellence

THE Manila North Tollways Corp. was recently reorganized as Nlex Corp. and 2017 was as a year of “Triple Es”—expansion, enhancements, excellence—for the company.

New and longer kilometer lanes were built; toll plazas were expanded; interchanges enhanced; new exits opened; more roadway lighting facilities installed; electronic payment options diversified; and pavements known for their Nlex quality were further improved.

Nlex Corp. as a matter of policy and DNA never rest on its laurels. In a year-end statement, President and CEO Rodrigo E. Franco said, “2017 is a defining period where we will build on our accomplishments and bring to completion big ticket projects slated for 2018.”

“We at Nlex Corp. have indeed made traveling through our tollways safer, faster and more comfortable.”

Nlex Corp. operates both the 97-kilometer North Luzon Expressway (Nlex) and the 94-km Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx).

“More expansion and enhancement projects are on the way this year that will provide further comfort and convenience to motorists,” Franco added.

“Among the projects completed in 2017 for North Luzon Expressway are the 64 lane kilometers of world-class expressway; the 56 lane kilometers from Santa Rita to San Fernando in Pampanga;  and the 8 lane kilometers from Dau to Santa Ines, also in Pampanga. The additional lane kilometers expanded the road capacity of Nlex in heavy traffic areas, and thus enhanced free flow of traffic,” Franco said.

Three toll plazas in Balintawak, Mindanao Avenue and Meycauayan were also expanded. Toll lanes at Balintawak plaza were increased from 17 to 25; the three-lane Mindanao plaza adopted a fishbone design to allow for easy exit; and the toll lanes of Meycauayan plaza increased from four to five lanes.

According to Nlex Corp., they expanded the toll lanes to provide more “breathing space” at the toll plazas and reduce long queues of vehicles.

Nlex also constructed three new exits, namely, Lingunan, Libtong and Pandayan.

The Lingunan southbound exit has decongested traffic at the Valenzuela interchange; the Libtong northbound exit relieved rush-hour traffic at Meycauayan interchange, while the Pandayan southbound exit also contributed to free traffic flow at Meycauayan.

This project has benefited at least 13,000 vehicles coming in and out of the city via Nlex. These exits also increased commercial activities in the city with increased efficiency, due to reduced traffic.

Interchange enhancements were undertaken at the San Fernando Interchange, where traffic was building up due to increased commercial activities of two big malls. The enhancements project took the form of two new bridges that function as separate carriageways.

The interchange enhancements predictably resulted in greater travel convenience—benefiting operators, passengers and business owners within the City of San Fernando and other parts of Central Luzon.

One project that promises to stimulate commerce in the country is an expressway that speeds up transport to and from our ports. The R-10 section of the Nlex Harbor Link Project broke ground last year. It is a 2.6-kilometer continuation of the 5.7 km Nlex Harbor Link Segment 10. The R-10 section will surely provide direct access from the Port Area to Northern Luzon provinces via Nlex.

Nlex has not only brightened the lives of motorists but it has also brightened the roadways in Pampanga with close to 800 LED lights from Balagtas in Bulacan to San Fernando in Pampanga. The light-emitting diode lights have greatly illuminated the stretch and contributed to road safety at night time.

Nlex diversified electronic payment options, and motorists traversing Nlex can now pay their tollway fees by using their Easy Trip RFID, beep cards and Mastercard contactless debit, prepaid and credit cards, including their Smart Mastercard powered by PayMaya. This resulted in faster, more secure and more convenient transactions at the toll booths.

Over at Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx), the Nlex Corp. completed its rehabilitation of the entire SCTEx pavement from Tipo to Tarlac, thus increasing the comfort and convenience of motorists in the area.

Nlex Corp. has also modernized the SCTEx Traffic Control Room—featuring a central traffic management system that monitors 24/7 real-time traffic. The SCTEx Control Room is now on a par with the ultra-modern Nlex Traffic Control Room.

The company also installed over 100 CCTV cameras to keep close watch over SCTEx, including toll plazas and toll booths. This also helped in monitoring and surveying what factors can be changed to provide better service for motorists and commuters.

With all these accomplishments, the tollways firm hopes to continue making substantial improvements on Nlex-SCTEx that will provide not only ease of travel but also to spur growth in the communities traversed by the expressways. Whenever we talk of Nlex Corp.’s nonstop improvements, we remember an industry observer’s remark about the passion for excellence of Nlex executives led by Franco.

The perceptive Franco remarked, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

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