Travel on new SCTEX for free

SCTEX - Dubbed as one of the “dream highways,” the 93.77-kilometer Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) will be open to motorists for free during the entire Holy Week, Malacañang announced yesterday.

President Macapagal-Arroyo will inaugurate on Tuesday morning the new expressway that will link the Subic Bay Freeport to the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) in Tarlac.

Once officially opened—actual operations will start in the third or fourth week of April—traveling from Clark to Subic will take only 35 minutes, officials said.

Edgardo Pamintuan, head of the Clark-Subic Development Council, said President Arroyo also wants to connect the NLEX southwards with the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) via Commonwealth and Mindanao Avenues in Quezon City, and extend the NLEX northwards to Rosario, La Union, via the towns of La Paz and Gerona in Tarlac.

The President hopes to complete the “dream highways” before her term ends in 2010, said Pamintuan at the taping of the government TV talk show, “Cabinet Speaks” hosted by Press Undersecretary Martin Crisostomo. Michael Lim Ubac - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Map of the Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway click to download map