North Luzon Expressway

of Valenzuela.]]
 of the expressway.]]
The **North Luzon Expressway**, more commonly known by its abbreviation **NLEx** or **NLEX**, is a controlled-access highway in the Philippines. It connects the National Capital Region (or Metro Manila) to the provinces of the central part of Luzon, the main island in the country. Measuring 84 kilometers long, it starts at a cloverleaf-shaped interchange in Quezon City, where the controlled-access highway, the Epifanio de los Santos Avenue,

and the Bonifacio Avenue meet. It then passes through the settlements of Caloocan and Valenzuela in the capital area and the provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga in Central Luzon. It ends at an exit in the settlement of Mabalacat and joins with the MacArthur Highway with the help of a road, continuing northward into the remaining part of Central Luzon and the Northern Luzon. The whole controlled-access highway has 4 to 8 lanes (with 2 to 4 lanes in each direction). The original stretch of the highway, named Manila North Expressway, from Balintawak Interchange in Quezon City up to Guiguinto Exit in Bulacan, was completed on August 4, 1968. It is a fully fenced limited-access highway that consisted of a four-lane rural divided roadway, nine twin bridges, one railroad overpass, seven underpasses, and three interchanges. The executive order was signed to designate the highway as a toll road.

Originally a project of the Department of Public Works and Highways, the completion of the major portion of the job fell on the Construction Development Corporation of the Philippines (CDCP, the precursor to PNCC) to pioneer the toll concept of funding infrastructure. It was carried out under the private financing scheme provided by Republic Act No. 3741.

Additional work required by the government included the construction of the Balintawak – Novaliches Interchange Complex, the Tabang Interchange, and the approach road of the underpasses.

Work on the extension started in April 1974, leading to its official opening by President Ferdinand Marcos in Pulilan on May 17, 1977. It was completed in August of the same year. The route, consisting of 50.9 kilometers (31.6 mi) of concrete road, was built as part of a highways program of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) linking major urban centers to the production centers in the north. The project features a 4-lane limited-access highway with a 5-kilometer (3.1 mi) Candaba Viaduct, a construction innovation utilizing precast beam system, 6 interchanges, 12 bridges, and overpass/underpass structures.

In 1985, the expressway was extended by another 5 kilometers (3.1 mi) from its terminus at Dau Exit to Santa Ines Exit in Mabalacat, Pampanga, with a northbound lane from Dau Exit to the future connection to SCTEX had an asphalt overlay while the southbound lane was originally a concrete road before an asphalt overlay was added upon the expressway's rehabilitation.

### Planned extension to Pangasinan and La Union 
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Early in the plans that would have extended the expressway beyond its northern terminus in Mabalacat, Pampanga, towards the Ilocos region. These various different proposals have been made throughout the years.

In 1977, President Marcos signed a presidential decree that proposes an expressway extension to Rosales, Pangasinan. They later mentioned it again in 1983. In 1989, the PNCC proposed an extension of the expressway, totaling by 20 kilometers (12 mi) from Mabalacat to Capas, Tarlac, and 82 kilometers (51 mi) to Rosales.

In 1994, the PNCC entered into a MOU with Italian-Thai Development for the extension of the North Luzon Tollway to Pangasinan and La Union, as well as the widening of the expressway from four to eight lanes under the build-operate-transfer scheme. However, the agreement turned into a deadlock, and Congressman Mike Defensor was assailed for imputing motivations to Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for resolving, and also, Benpres (now Lopez Holdings Corporation), which involved the rehabilitation and expansion of the expressway, was planned to include the extension to Pangasinan and La Union with agreement as its revision. Nothing came out of that undertaking.

Filipinas Dravo Corporation also made a study on the expressway extension that would extend to San Fernando, La Union, totaling 162 kilometers (101 mi) in 1996 and proposed it in the 1997 master plan.

On December 30, 1996, Japanese company Itochu signed an agreement with the PNCC to build the extension of the expressway to Pangasinan, and a feasibility study was conducted. Meanwhile, the route has a total length of 88 kilometers (55 mi) from Mabalacat to Urdaneta, Pangasinan, with a planned extension to La Union. When the proposal was not realized, the extension of the expressway was split into two expressways, the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway and its segment between Clark and Tarlac City, and the Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway. No new proposals have made since then.

### Expansion and rehabilitation 
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On April 30, 1998, the MNTC was granted the concession for the expressway, manifested in a Supplementary Toll Operation Agreement (STOA). Under the STOA, the government confirmed the assignment by PNCC of its usufructuary rights, interest and privileges over the existing expressway, including all extensions, linkages and diversions in favor of MNTC. These concession rights authorized MNTC to construct, finance, manage, operate and maintain all the project roads and charge tolls thereon.

From February 2003 to February 2005, the expressway underwent a major rehabilitation. Works included the widening of the Balintawak–Tabang segment from 6 to 8 lanes and the Tabang–Sta. Rita segment from 4 to 6 lanes, asphalt overlay, and the demolition of old tollbooths. The main contractor of the rehabilitation work was Leighton Asia with 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. On February 10, 2005, commercial operations began following the Toll Regulatory Board's issuance of the Toll Operation Permit. On the same day, the operation and maintenance of the expressway was transferred from the government-owned PNCC to the privately owned MNTC, which would later become known as NLEX Corporation.

On February 12, 2007, the entire stretch of the expressway began another rehabilitation regarding its drainage systems. Within this period, certain lanes of the road were closed to the traffic. This in turn caused massive traffic jams along the road and the speed limit on the construction sites were reduced from 80 km/h (50 mph) and 100 km/h (62 mph), respectively, to 60 km/h (37 mph).[*citation needed*] The program was finished on October 7, 2007.[*citation needed*]

### Further extensions 
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Further information: NLEX Harbor Link

Construction of NLEX Segment 8.1 (Mindanao Avenue Link), the first segment of the Harbor Link project, broke ground on April 2, 2009, with actual construction work beginning on April 21, 2009. Right-of-way for the road and interchange was then established throughout its construction where several houses were demolished. It was opened to the traffic on June 5, 2010. The spur road became part of the C-5Road North Extension and is built to provide another entry point to the expressway from Metro Manila and decongest Balintawak Interchange.

On March 18, 2015, NLEX Segment 9 or the NLEX Karuhatan Link was opened, providing continuation to Segment 8.1 that runs from the other side of the Harbor Link Interchange to MacArthur Highway in Karuhatan, Valenzuela.

On February 28, 2019, the main stretch of NLEX Segment 10 or the NLEX Harbor Link, from Karuhatan to C-3 Road, was opened to traffic. On February 21, 2020, its C3–R10 Section was partially opened up to its Malabon exit ramp; the remaining section to Radial Road 10 was opened on June 15, 2020.

NLEX Segment 8.2, which would extend NLEX Segment 8.1 from Mindanao Avenue to Congressional Avenue, is also set to be constructed, but its construction was delayed due to right of way issues.

#### NLEX Connector 
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Main article: NLEX Connector

NLEX Connector is a 7.7-kilometer (4.8 mi) elevated highway serving as a connector between NLEX and SLEX. Section 1 was opened to the public, while Section 2, which is 59.12% complete as of December 2023, was partially opened and is planned to be finished in the fourth quarter of 2024.

### Proposed renaming 
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The main expressway has been a subject of some legislative measures for its proposed renaming. These were filed to commemorate to the historical significance and contributions of its intended namesakes, respectively. However, none has taken effect to date, as these await a counterpart measure from the Senate before it can be signed into law by the President of the Philippines.

On May 10, 2015, the House Committee on Public Works and Highways approved House Bill No. 4820 that seeks to rename the expressway to **President Corazon C. Aquino Expressway**(CAEX), in honor of former President Corazon Aquino, who was regarded as an icon of democracy. It was authored by Magnolia Rosa Antonino-Nadres, the then-representative from Nueva Ecija's 4th district.

On May 13, 2019, the House of Representativespassed on third and final reading the House Bill No. 8958 that seeks to rename the expressway to the **Marcelo H. del Pilar Expressway** (MHDPEX), in honor of Marcelo H. del Pilar, a revolutionary writer and patriot from Bulacan. The bill is principally authored by Jose Antonio Sy-Alvarado, the then-representative from Bulacan's 1st district.