The construction of the Third Candaba Viaduct on the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) is in full swing with a 30.58 percent progress rate. The assurance of steady flow of funding, along with the hard work and thrust, is playing a crucial role in the aim of completing the project by November 2024.

NLEX Corporation President Luigi Bautista shared that part of the P10 billion loan agreement the toll firm signed with the Bank of the Philippine Islands will be allocated for the said project.

Based on what was previously approved by the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB), the project will require an amount of P8 billion.

The 5.3-kilometer Third Candaba Viaduct is being built between the two original structures located on the portion of the NLEX from the town of Pulilan in Bulacan to the town of Apalit in Pampanga.

It will be as long as the nearly 50-year-old such structures that were built between 1974 to 1977.

As an assurance that the construction will be continuous, TRB Executive Director Alvin Carullo said that 170 of the 198 families under and near the Candaba Viaduct have been relocated from it. NLEX Corporation provided P9.3 million worth of financial assistance to the said families.

Carullo explained that the project should not be interrupted because the stability of the two old Candaba Viaducts and the safety of motorists going to North and Central Luzon, and exits to Metro Manila depend on it.

Once completed, the Third Candaba Viaduct will be attached to the existing viaduct, thereby having three lanes on each side, or a total of six lanes, with a shoulder on either side.

Although there are currently three lanes on each side of the Candaba Viaduct, there are no road shoulders where vehicles may temporarily pull over during emergency situations.

Emergency bays have only been installed in strategic locations in the past six years.

Leighton Asia, an Australian project development and contracting group that also worked on the modernization of NLEX from 2002 to 2005, is serving as the contractor for the Third Candaba Viaduct.

Aside from the construction of the Third Candaba Viaduct, the TRB also previously approved the retrofitting of the two older viaducts. There are 38 link slabs or joints and floors of the said viaducts were replaced with new girders with a height of 1,300 millimeters and a width of 1,000 millimeters. (PIA 3 / Shane F. Velasco)