CITY OF MEYCAUAYAN–The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) Corporation has just opened its new exit and completed an additional lane on its existing northbound exit, both to help address the daily heavy volume of vehicles going into the city particularly during peak hours and holidays.
NLEX Corporation President and General Manager, J. Luigi Bautista said the opening of the F. Raymundo Exit in Barangay Pandayan and a new lane in the Meycauayan Northbound Exit Ramp will now help ease the travel time of the Meycauayan-bound motorists.
“We are very happy to announce the opening of these two projects that will help decongest the Meycauayan Northbound. We are positive that these will improve our motorists’ travel experience now that they have an additional and alternative route going to the eastern portions of the City of Meycauayan and Marilao,” Bautista said.
According to the NLEX head, their works and efforts to address the long queues and the traffic volume in the area are carried out through strong support and partnership of the city government of Meycauayan.
Temporarily, the new F. Raymundo Exit is only accessible for class 1 vehicles but will also allow passage of class 2 and 3 vehicles once the city government completed its ongoing widening and upgrading at F. Raymundo and Antonio streets.
The new exit however, which will serve as an alternate route for Iba/Camalig, Metrogate, Lias, Lambakin, and Pantoc-bound vehciles, F. Raymundo and Antonio Streets will only be a “one-way” street serving east-bound traffic. But this will reduce volume at the Meycauayan interchange and make traffic flow more organized, Bautista added.
The additional lane in Meycauayan Northbound Exit ramp will serve as the new dedicated lane for Malhacan-bound vehicles while the leftmost and middle lanes will be assigned for those bound to Iba/Camalig, providing additional space for the high volume of trucks going to the industrial areas.
For more than a year, the Meycauayan northbound exit has become a choke point in the northbound lanes of the NLEX and has caused traffic and discomfort to travelers. Long queues of cargo trucks, container vans and private vehicles start at the Valenzuela City area northbound coming from Balintawak. The heavy congestion happens particularly during peak hours and holidays.
This caused the NLEX Corporation to commission in July 2023 a traffic mobility and decongestion study which showed that the rapid economic growth in Meycauayan brings high demand trucks, cargo and other mobility. This led the company to expand the northbound exit ramp and to construct the new F. Raymundo exit.
The City of Meycauayan houses several manufacturing industries and warehouses that demand a high daily volume of transport of goods, particularly going into the city.
“The road to progress is a two-way street. Even as we build up on our credibility as public service providers and undertake sustained growth to improve the quality of life in Meycauayan, our success hinges on all our sectors and stakeholders joining us in active partnership. I am glad that in the literal sense, NLEX is already a partner in our road to progress as they keep up with industry demands as the artery for our city’s access to the wider trade and markets,” said City of Meycauayan Mayor Henry Villarica who heads the city government partnership with the NLEX.
Under a traffic management cooperation agreement, NLEX and the City of Meycauayan will implement a joint traffic manning system for their respective personnel and marshals to further ease the congestion in the NLEX exits, entries and interchange.
The tollway has earlier opened additional exits in Barangay Libtong Northbound and Barangay Pandayan Southbound and had expanded the southbound toll plaza.
In 2021, a portion of NLEX right-of-way was used to open the two-lane Meycauayan East Service Road connecting Libtong in Meycauayan City and Lawang Bato in Valenzuela City which was then extended to Marilao in 2022, providing alternative routes going in and out of Valenzuela, Meycauayan and Marilao.
NLEX Corporation is a subsidiary of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), the toll road arm of the Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC).
