M’la-Baguio travel time cut 3 hours with TPLEX

By Dexter A. See 

BAGUIO CITY –The opening of the Pangasinan – La Union Expressway (TPLEX) by the end of May this year from Tarlac to Carmen, Rosales, Pangasinan on May 31 would ease travel time from Metro Manila to Baguio to only over three hours from the previous four-hour travel.

This was bared by Rep. Bernardo Vergara, who said tourism and trade in this summer capital and the Cordillera are expected to improve  with the opening of a portion of the P12.5-billion project.

      

“Just imagine the number of tourists who would want to come visit our city with the shorter time it would take them to travel up here. This would be a big boost for our hotels, transient houses, restaurants and almost all kinds of businesses in Baguio,” Vergara said.

            

Vergara said people from Northern Luzon and those who often travel up here know that the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) have made traveling faster and more convenient. “Everybody here will surely welcome the news that the new TPLEX would soon be completed and operational,” he said.

            

Vergara was one of the major movers for the TPLEX to reach as far as Rosario, La Union to better benefit residents of Baguio City and the rest of the Cordillera with this government public-private partnership (PPP) initiative.

             

The TPLEX will initially be an 88.58-kilometer 2-lane expressway which starts from Tarlac City, Tarlac, and ends in Rosario, La Union. It traverses the municipalities of La Paz, Gerona, Victoria, Pura, Anao and Ramos in Tarlac; Nampicuan and Cuyapo in Nueva Ecija; Rosales, Villasis, Urdaneta City, Binalonan, Pozzorubio and Sison in Pangasinan.

            

Vergara said that once completed, this project would surely improve traffic in the provinces it would pass through, as well as boost and develop trade in the cities, towns and peripheral areas along the new expressway. “And this would also promote tourism because of faster travel time to major tourist spots and destinations in the North,” he continued.

            

Although initially eyed to have two lanes, will subsequently be expanded to four, when capacity reaches 25,000 vehicles per day.

            

“Once fully operational by July 2014, it will provide seamless travel to Baguio City, the Cordillera, Northern and Central Luzon as it will be linked to both the North Luzon and the Subic – Clark - Tarlac Expressways.

            

In the past two and a half years, Vergara had been implementing a city-wide infrastructure program to get the city back on track as the country’s Summer Capital and center of tourism, education, trade and business in Northern Luzon.

Under his watch and from the national funds he secured, and from active representations in line with his plans to upgrade this mountain city for its residents and tourists, he allocated nearly about P800-million for various essential projects, both for hard infrastructure and human infrastructure, as well as vital socio-economic projects for Baguio’s sustainable development.

Through his initiative, he succeeded in inter-connecting Baguio and the Cordillera, through a now upgraded Kennon Road, with the ongoing TPLEX.

Also ongoing is the completion of the Baguio-BLISTT circumferential road which is expected to link up the city with its neighboring Benguet towns.