Cavitex Infrastructure Inc. on Wednesday partially opened to motorists the Laguna section of the Cavite-Laguna Expressway project.
“We will open to all vehicles a single lane on Oct. 30 until 10 p.m. [As] Oct. 31 to Nov. 2 are holidays, we shall be open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.” Cavitex president and general manager Roberto Bontia said.
“For the daily access time starting Nov. 3, we agreed with Department of Public Works and Highways that it will be Sunday to Thursday 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. and giving extended time on weekends, Friday to Saturday 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. This will only be temporary, until the remaining works for these first subsections are completed,” he said.
Public Works Secretary Mark Villar said the Laguna section of CALAX was 90-percent completed while the construction of the remaining 10 percent was being fast tracked.
“We hope to fully open before December steps in,” Villar said.
Villar said about 10,000 cars were expected to enter and exit the two access points of Mamplasan Barrier for the westbound vehicles and Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Entry for the eastbound vehicles.
“This section will take 10 minutes to drive. A big cut on travel time compared to the 45 minutes it currently takes to travel Mamplasan to Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road,” Villar said.
The first segment starts at the Mamplasan Barrier and passes through Laguna Technopark Interchange, Laguna Boulevard Interchange all the way to Santa Rosa-Tagaytay Interchange.
The construction of the Cavite side is expected to be completed by 2022.
MPCALA tapped Leighton Holdings of Australia to build the Cavite side and local contractor DMCI Consunji Inc. to construct the Laguna segment.
The Cavite segment represents 27 kilometers of the 45-kilometer Cavite-Laguna Expressway.
The Cavite segment starts from Kawit, Cavite and traverses the Imus Open Canal, Governor’s Drive, Dasmariñas, Aguinaldo Highway and Silang which will connect to the Laguna segment from Sta. Rosa exiting to Mamplasan towards South Luzon Expressway.
CALAX will feature an automatic license plate recognition system, enabling barrier-less entry. IP-based speed detection cameras will be strategically installed together with HD CCTV coverage for the entire stretch of the expressway to ensure the safety of the motorists.