South Luzon Expressway

Route description

The South Luzon Expressway network currently cuts southwards from the City of Manila up to the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Batangas. In the future, it will run towards Quezon, Camarines Sur, Albay and Sorsogon as part of its expansion plans. It is composed of the Metro Manila Skyway System and the South Luzon Tollway/Alabang-Calamba-Santo Tomas Expressway, which contains portions of the Pres. Sergio Osmeña Sr. Highway and Dr. Jose P. Rizal Highway.

Pres. Sergio Osmeña Sr. Highway

The Pres. Sergio Osmeña Sr. Highway segment starts from an intersection at Quirino Avenue in Paco, Manila and goes straight up to Alabang in Muntinlupa. The part of Osmeña Highway which passes through Manila, Makati, Pasay and Taguig is a toll-free highway before reaching the Nichols Toll Plaza from which the tolled expressway begins. Heading southward, the expressway has exits in C-5 Road in Taguig,the Merville Subdivision and Bicutan in Parañaque,and Sucat, Alabang, and Filinvest in Muntinlupa. This segment was formerly known as South Superhighway before Republic Act 6760 was passed, naming it after former President Sergio Osmeña. This highway may be called "local lanes" of the Expressway within Metro Manila. Most of Osmeña Highway parallels the PNR Metro South Commuter Line.

Osmeña Highway starts at the traffic light with Quirino Avenue. It then crosses San Andres Street, Ocampo (Vito Cruz) Street, and Zobel Roxas Street. The highway climbs over to pass above Gil Puyat Avenue through the Buendia Flyover, with service roads to serve that avenue and several side streets. The Skyway starts on the ramps past Buendia Flyover. Osmeña Highway crosses over Arnaiz Avenue, and soon crosses over EDSA at the Magallanes Interchange. The concurrency with the Pan-Philippine Highway starts at that interchange, except that it is not signed until the expressway reaches Carmona. Past Magallanes Interchange, the highway features 5 lanes, with 1 lane designated as motorcycle lanes until it comes near Nichols Interchange, where the toll road starts. Osmeña Highway becomes a toll road past the Sales Interchange, with motorcycles below 400cc prohibited to use the tolled expressway.

Past the Sales Interchange, Osmeña Highway becomes the tolled South Luzon Expressway. The expressway includes two service roads until Alabang Exit. The PNR Metro South Commuter Line runs between the South Luzon Expressway and Skyway until it passes over C-5 Exit. The expressway and its service roads run through the Pasay-Taguig boundary until it reaches C-5 Exit. Past C-5 Exit, Skyway runs over South Luzon Expressway up to Alabang. South Luzon Expressway slightly curves and passes over Bicutan, running as a straight route with the Skyway above until it reaches Alabang Exit and Alabang Viaduct. The expressways mostly runs through the Parañaque-Taguig boundary until it comes near Sucat, where it crosses Dr. Santos Avenue. South Luzon Expressway and Skyway enters Muntinlupa, passing over barangays Sucat, Buli, and Cupang, before approaching Alabang. Skyway soon leaves, curves westward, and descends toward Alabang-Zapote Road. Alabang Exit is the terminus of the expressway from 1969 to 1976, before the Alabang Viaduct was built and extended until Calamba Exit. It is also the site of the former Alabang Toll Barrier. South Luzon Expressway climbs over the Maharlika Highway (National Road or Manila South Road) through the Alabang Viaduct, before it descends and becomes the Alabang-Calamba-Santo Tomas Expressway (ACTEx) or South Luzon Tollway (SLT).

Metro Manila Skyway

Due to increasing vehicles congesting on the SLEX within Metro Manila, the Metro Manila Skyway was constructed as a direct, non-stop route from Alabang–Zapote Road in Muntinlupa to Gil Puyat Avenue in Makati, bypassing many of the interchanges of the SLEX, such as those with C-5 Road near Fort Bonifacio and EDSA. The Skyway and the portion of the Osmeña Highway below forms the Skyway System, which is managed by the Skyway Operations and Maintenance Corporation (SOMCo.), which succeeded the PNCC Skyway Corporation in 2007. This highway might be called "express lanes" of the Expressway within Metro Manila.

Dr. Jose P. Rizal Highway

From Kilometer 28.387 at San Pedro, Laguna southwards, the Dr. Jose P. Rizal Highway segment runs through the province of Laguna, as well as a segment of Carmona at Cavite province before continuing back to Laguna from Biñan towards the exit at Calamba through the Maharlika Highway. The highway was also part of the Osmeña Highway until 1992 when R.A. 6760 was amended, which named the segment after the Philippines' national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. The road starting from Alabang Viaduct in Muntinlupa up to Santo Tomas, Batangas forms the South Luzon Tollway, handled by the South Luzon Tollway Corporation, a joint venture of the Philippine National Construction Corporation and the SMC-backed Citra group of Indonesia.

South Luzon Tollway/Alabang-Calamba-Santo Tomas Expressway

Called as the SLT or ACTEx as the new alternate name for the part of the R-3 held by South Luzon Tollway Corporation. The ACTEx name refers to the segment of SLEX from Alabang Exit in Muntinlupa up to Santo Tomas Exit in Santo Tomas, Batangas.

South Luzon Tollway/ACTEX start past Filinvest Exit (Exit 23), with 2 to 4 lanes per direction and mostly paralleling the four-lane Maharlika Highway (National Highway, National Road or officially Manila South Road/MSR) over Muntinlupa and northwestern Laguna. The road slightly curves over barangays Bayanan and Putatan on Muntinlupa. The expressway's first service area, Tollway Plaza, having a Shell gas station and several restaurants such as Jollibee, KFC, Greenwich, Burger King, and others, is also located on this segment. Past that service area, South Luzon Expressway mostly follows a straight course, passing the interchange serving the newly opened Muntinlupa–Cavite Expressway, the Maharlika Highway, and barangays Poblacion and Tunasan in Muntinlupa.

It soon enters Laguna at San Pedro, continuing as a straight roadway lined with billboards and passing through the city's residential and industrial areas before curving and ascending past the Petron and Caltex service areas to clear Pacita Avenue and the disused spur of the PNR South Main Line. South Luzon Expressway soon enters Biñan, passing near Southwoods, Barangay San Francisco (Halang), and Splash Island, before entering Carmona, Cavite. It passes through Carmona in about one kilometer, with an exit to serve the town proper, before re-entering Biñan at Santo Tomas Bridge. The first reassurance marker for AH26 is found on this segment. Returning to Binan, the road runs straight over Barangay Santo Tomas (Calabuso), and enters Barangay Mamplasan, with an exit to serve Laguna International Industrial Park, and several residential communities such as Brentville and Jubilation. A Caltex service is found on the southbound expressway over Mamplasan. It soon enters Santa Rosa, Laguna on a straight route, mostly lined with tress. It intersects Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Road to Santa Rosa city proper and Tagaytay through a partial cloverleaf interchange. South Luzon Expressway reduces into 3 lanes, having guard rails as the median divider. The road passes near Enchanted Kingdom and ETON City, which is within the limits of barangay Don Jose, Santa Rosa, Laguna. A Total service area lies beside the northbound lanes of the expressway.

South Luzon Expressway enters Cabuyao, passing near Malayan Colleges Laguna (formerly the location of the warehouses owned by the defunct Uniwide Sales Inc.) and Santa Elena Golf and Country Club. It crosses the San Cristobal River and enters Calamba, being on a straight route until Batangas/Calamba Exit. The road approaches the Calamba toll plaza, widening to 18 lanes (including the lanes on the second southbound toll plaza and the northbound lanes), before returning to 3 lanes per direction. It passes through barangays Mayapa, Batino and Prinza before approaching Batangas/Calamba Exit. At Batangas Exit (exit 50), AH26 leaves the expressway and follows again the Maharlika Highway/Manila South Road. Calamba Exit was the former terminus of the South Luzon Expressway from 1976 to 2010, when the expressway is extended to connect with STAR Tollway and bypass the congested Pan-Philippine Highway/Maharlika Highway over Turbina.

Past Calamba Exit, the expressway narrows to 2 lanes per direction, with no exits. South Luzon Expressway, also called the Alabang-Calamba-Santo Tomas Expressway, follows a curved route paralleling the Pan-Philippine Highway (Maharlika Highway or Manila South Road) from Calamba to Santo Tomas, Batangas. It approaches the Ayala Greenfield toll plaza, continues over barangay Saimsim, and then enters Batangas on Siam-siam Bridge. The expressway curves before it ends at kilometer 57.2, continuing toward Batangas City as the STAR Tollway. However, the kilometer count of the next expressway after the Santo Tomas exit instead starts at kilometer 60.

History

South Luzon Expressway was originally built during the Marcos Era as South Diversion Road or South Superhighway as newer roads used to travel from and to Manila. South Superhighway was referred to as the Manila to Alabang segments that started in 1967 and was completed on December 16, 1969.

On 1976, the expressway was extended by another 29 km from Alabang up to Calamba, Laguna. The project includes the 850 meter long viaduct which crosses over Alabang and is called Alabang Viaduct.

Rehabilitation and opening of connection with STAR Tollway

Before rehabilitation work starting in 2006, South Luzon Expressway is mostly an expressway with a grass median, and 2 lanes per direction from Alabang to Calamba. Rehabilitation work started in 2006, with heavy traffic brought by construction work. Alabang Viaduct is widened to 4 lanes, and the construction of Skyway Stage 2 caused traffic on the Nichols-Alabang segment. Rehabilitation work is finished in 2009, and the Alabang-Calamba segment is expanded to 3 to 4 lanes.

On 2010, an extension of the expressway, named Alabang-Calamba-Santo Tomas Expressway or ACTEx is opened, eventually connecting South Luzon Expressway with STAR Tollway.

SLEX Redevelopment

The SLEX Upgrading and Rehabilitation Project already started since May 2006 by PNCC and MTD Capital, BHD of Malaysia (MTD Manila Expressway Corporation) joint venture, called South Luzon Tollway Corporation (SLTC), as the main proponents of the said project. In this project, the expressway will undergo a major rehabilitation similar to the recently - rehabilitated North Luzon Expressway and will eventually connect with its Batangas section, the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road, also known as the STAR Tollway. The expressway project includes the following:

Toll Road 1

The Toll road 1 or TR1 is the retrofitting and widening of the old Alabang Viaduct.
STATUS: 100% completed (including the drainage system and installing of lamp posts).

Toll Road 2

The Toll road 2 or TR2 is the rehabilitation and widening of the Alabang-Calamba segment.
STATUS: 100% completed (including the new asphalt overlay along the expressway segment, retrofitting and construction of new bridges, installing lamp posts near tollway exits, drainage and flood control system especially in the San Pedro area, renovation of tollway signage and adding Variable message signs near Susana Heights and Sta. Rosa, replacement of new modern Tollbooths in every exit and a facelift of every highway overpass).

Toll Road 3

The Toll road 3 or TR3 is the construction of the missing tollway link (Calamba-Santo Tomas segment). The SLEx-STAR link is a 7.3 kilometer toll road from South Luzon Expressway in Calamba, Laguna to STAR Tollway in Santo Tomas, Batangas.
STATUS: 100% completed (including the drainage system and installing of lamp posts).

Toll Road 4

The Toll Road 4 or TR4 is a proposed 55.87 kilometer 4 lane SLEX Extension to Lucena in Quezon province. It will move to Matnog, Sorsogon in preparation of the completion of Toll Road 5.
STATUS: Construction will start in the first quarter of 2016 and is expected to be completed in 2019.

Toll Road 5

The Toll Road 5 or TR5 is a proposed 418.3 kilometer 4-6 lane SLEX Extension to Matnog in Sorsogon province.
STATUS: As of 2015, this extension is being discussed by Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, Toll Regulatory Board chairman Edmund Reyes, San Miguel Corporation and Ramon Ang.

Rehabilitation

Skyway Stage 3 / NLEx-SLEx Connector Road / Segment 11

Two proposals for connecting the SLEx with the North Luzon Expressway (NLEx) have been under consideration by the government since 2010. According to DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson both proposals would likely be pushed through, as the proposals can co-exist as the projects service two different corridors of the metro. On May 23, 2012, both companies presented their proposals to President Benigno S. Aquino III. The administration then announced through Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang that they hoped both companies could be given formal awarding and final approval by the end of the year, so that they could begin "by the end of this year or early next year.", Construction began in 2018.

CMMTC Proposal

Dubbed as the "Skyway Stage 3", the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) had received an unsolicited proposal for the construction of the elevated toll road Skyway’s extension from San Miguel Corp. backed Citra Metro Manila Tollways Corp. (CMMTC) which according to their proposal will run from Bicutan, Taguig to Balintawak, Quezon City.

The DPWH plans to include the project in its PPP thrust and plans to subject the proposal to a Swiss Challenge, Public Works Undersecretary Romeo S. Momo said in a telephone interview on Friday. A Swiss challenge requires a government agency which has received an unsolicited bid for a project to publish the bid and invite third parties to match or exceed it.

As of November 29, 2013, the ₱26.6 billion "Skyway Stage 3 Project" is undergoing a review of the detailed engineering design by the IC.

Construction began in the First Quarter of 2015.

MPTDC Proposal

Meanwhile, a year before the CMMTC proposal was unveiled NLEX concessionaire subsidiary Metro Pacific Tollway Development Corporation (MPTDC) through its Manila North Tollways Corporation (MNTC) submitted their proposal which is dubbed as "Segment 11 or the NLEx-SLEx Connector Road" in the NLEx Phase 2 project which involves the construction of a 13.24 kilometer Elevated Expressway from Buendia (Skyway Stage 1) to the C-3 Road which will connect to the NLEx via Segment 10 of the NLEx Phase 2 project in which most of the elevated roadway will be located above the Philippine National Railways Right-Of-Way.

As of November 29, 2013, the "NLEx-SLEx Connector Road" project worth an estimated ₱21.2 billion was approved as a Joint Venture Project under Presidential Decree 1894 according to the PPP Center of the Philippines.

SLEX Extension to Lucena

The then-President Gloria Arroyo said the South Luzon Expressway will be extended to Lucena from Laguna as part of the Urban Luzon Beltway super region. The total length of the extension will be 55.87 kilometers. The extension will be built through a ₱10 billion build-operate-transfer agreement with Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc., a company owned 40 percent by Philippine National Construction Corp. The rest is shared equally by the local firm Alloy Manila Expressway Inc. and the SMC-backed Citra Group of Indonesia which bought the shares formerly owned by the MTD Capital Berhad of Malaysia. As of 2015, the construction of the extension is planned for the first quarter of 2017 and the whole segment is expected to be completed by 2019.

SLEX Extension to Matnog, Sorsogon

Dubbed as Toll Road 5/Quezon-Bicol Expressway, the South Luzon Expressway will be extended to Matnog from Lucena, Quezon. The total length of the extension will be 418.3 kilometers. The extension will decongest Andaya Highway and Pan-Philippine Highway, cut travel time from Manila to Naga City by 2–3 hours, and to Matnog by 6 hours and soon be built by Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc., a company owned 40 percent by Philippine National Construction Corp. The rest is shared equally by the local firm Alloy Manila Expressway Inc. and the SMC-backed Citra Group of Indonesia which bought the shares formerly owned by the MTD Capital Berhad of Malaysia. As of 2015, the extension is discussed by Albay Gov. Joey Salceda, Toll Regulatory Board chairman Edmund Reyes, San Miguel Corporation and Ramon Ang.

Technical specifications

Current exits and intersections

Kilometer stones or markers count the distance (in kilometers) from the Kilometer Zero in Rizal Park. Exits are mostly named and numbered, but exit numbers appear only after Alabang Exit. There is a discrepancy with mileage, with Kilometer 24 being Kilometer 23 rather on the Manila Toll Expressway Systems (MATES) maintained segments of SLEX, although a Kilometer 23 already lies near Cupang, Muntinlupa. From Quirino Avenue to Nichols Interchange, SLEX is an national highway named Osmeña Highway, which is part of N145. No tolls are paid on Canlubang, Batino, and Batangas/Calamba exits (exits 47, 49, and 50).