The Balintawak Interchange , also known as the Balintawak Cloverleaf, is a two-level

cloverleaf interchange A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange (road), interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. To go left (in right-hand traffic; reverse directions in left-driving regions), vehicles first continue as one road passe ...

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

Metro Manila Metropolitan Manila ( ), commonly shortened to Metro Manila and formally the National Capital Region (NCR; ), is the capital region and largest List of metropolitan areas in the Philippines, metropolitan area of the Philippines. Located ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, which serves as the junction between

Epifanio de los Santos Avenue Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, commonly referred to by its acronym EDSA (), is a major circumferential road around Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. It passes through 6 of Metro Manila's 17 local government units or cities, namel ...

(EDSA) and the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX). Opened in 1968 as part of the initial NLEX segment between Quezon City and Guiguinto,

Bulacan Bulacan, officially the Province of Bulacan (; ; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon Regions of the Philippines, region. Its capital is the city of Malolos. Bulacan was established on ...

, it was one of the first projects of the Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (now the Philippine National Construction Corporation or PNCC). Construction of the interchange was precipitated by the large number of motor vehicles in Manila and the surrounding suburbs in the 1960s, contributing to significant

traffic congestion Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s, resulting in m ...

. On June 25, 1966,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...

ordered the Department of Public Works to construct some road projects to be financed through

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

reparations, including interchanges on vital intersections along EDSA.

Office of the President of the Philippines The Office of the President of the Philippines (OP; ) is an administrative, advisory, and consultative government agency that aids the president of the Philippines in performing their duty as head of state and chief of the executive branch of g ...

. (1966).
Official Week in Review: June 16 — June 30, 1966
. ''

Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines The ''Official Gazette'', which is printed by the National Printing Office (NPO), is the public journal and main publication of the government of the Philippines. Its website only uploads what has been published; it is managed by Presidentia ...

'', 62(31), cclxi-cclxxvii. This order led to the construction of this interchange, replacing a previous

roundabout A roundabout, a rotary and a traffic circle are types of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junct ...

between EDSA, A. Bonifacio Avenue, and Quirino Highway, and the

Magallanes Interchange The Magallanes Interchange is a four-level partial turbine interchange in Makati, Metro Manila, Philippines. It serves as the junction between the Osmeña Highway, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA), and South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) while al ...

between EDSA and the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), which opened in 1975. A shrine to

Andres Bonifacio Andres or Andrés may refer to: * Andres, Illinois, an unincorporated community in Will County, Illinois, US * Andres, Pas-de-Calais, a commune in Pas-de-Calais, France *Andres (name) Andres or Andrés is a male given name. It can also be a ...

was later built inside the interchange, which underwent a renovation in 2009. Flooding around the Balintawak Interchange is a problem, with the interchange being named in 2014 as one of the 22 most flood-prone roadways in Metro Manila. In 2015, the

Manila North Tollways Corporation NLEX Corporation (Full name: North Luzon Expressway Corporation; formerly Manila North Tollways Corporation) is a subsidiary of Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), a company owned by Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (). It holds th ...

, the concessionaire of NLEX, spent close to to improve the interchange's drainage systems to mitigate flooding. In addition to flooding, the interchange has been criticized by columnist Cito Beltran of ''

The Philippine Star ''The Philippine Star'' (self-styled ''The Philippine STAR'') is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines and the flagship brand of the Philstar Media Group. First published on July 28, 1986, by veteran journalists Betty Go-Belmonte, ...

'' for being rife with corrupt police officers and petty crime. Apart from the wet markets and drop-off points for goods from the north, Ayala Malls Cloverleaf and the entire Cloverleaf complex are located southeast of the interchange.

Balintawak station Balintawak station is an elevated Light Rail Transit (LRT) station located on the LRT Line 1 (LRT-1) system located along EDSA at the boundary of barangays Balingasa, Unang Sigaw, and Apolonio Samson in Quezon City, Philippines. It opened on M ...

on the LRT-1 serves the location east of the interchange.

References

{{Authority control Road interchanges in the Philippines