The Harbor Link Interchange, also known as the Mindanao Interchange and North Luzon Expressway Harbor Link Interchange (NLEX Harbor Link Interchange) and formerly known as the Smart Connect Interchange, 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 ...

Valenzuela Valenzuela may refer to: Places * Valenzuela, Paraguay * Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Philippines * Valenzuela, Spain * Valenzuela de Calatrava, Spain * Valenzuela, Louisiana Other uses * Valenzuela (surname), including a list of people with the ...

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 of

North Luzon Expressway The North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), signed as E1 of the Philippine expressway network, partially as N160 of the Philippine highway network, and partially as R-8 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a controlled-access highway that ...

(NLEX) between its main segment and its Harbor Link project, particularly Segments 8.1 and 9, components of

Circumferential Road 5 Circumferential Road 5 (C-5), informally known as the C-5 Road, is a network of roads and bridges which comprise the fifth beltway of Metro Manila in the Philippines. Spanning some , it connects the cities of Las Piñas, Parañaque, Pasay, Pasig ...

(C-5). Built as part of the NLEX Segment 8.1 of the Harbor Link project extending the expressway to

Mindanao Avenue Mindanao Avenue () is an eight-to-ten-lane divided avenue connecting EDSA and NLEX and is a part of Circumferential Road 5 (C-5) in Metro Manila, Philippines. It is one of the three parallel roads that connects Tandang Sora and Congressional ...

, which has since been incorporated into the C-5 system, it is the Philippines' largest cloverleaf interchange in terms of land area.

History

During the planning stages of

(C-5), a planned interchange with the Manila North Expressway (now North Luzon Expressway) was also in place. Based on a 1980 feasibility study by the

Japan International Cooperation Agency The Japan International Cooperation Agency (), also known as JICA'','' is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social gr ...

, the proposed location of the interchange, then known as C-5/Manila North Expressway Interchange, was at MNEX's bend in

. Construction of NLEX Segment 8.1, including the present-day Harbor Link Interchange on the same proposed site, broke ground on April 2, 2009, with actual construction work beginning 19 days later. The entire segment was opened to traffic on June 5, 2010, with President

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo (; born April 5, 1947), often referred to as PGMA or GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 2001 to 2010 ...

and

Manuel V. Pangilinan Manuel Velez Pangilinan (born July 14, 1946), also known as Manny Pangilinan or by his initials MVP, is a Filipino people, Filipino businessman and sports patron. He is the managing director and CEO of First Pacific, a Hong Kong–based invest ...

, chairman of 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 the North Luzon Expressway, leading the inauguration along with Public Works and Highways Secretary Victor Domingo and high-ranking officials from Valenzuela. With some 30,000 vehicles estimated to use the new road daily during its first year of operation, since its opening, it has helped to relieve traffic on the older

Balintawak Interchange The Balintawak Interchange , also known as the Balintawak Cloverleaf, is a two-level cloverleaf interchange in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines, which serves as the junction between Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) and the North Luzon ...

connecting

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) to NLEX, which is three times smaller. Although the interchange was opened to traffic in 2010, it originally only carried traffic between Valenzuela and eastern Metro Manila via NLEX Segment 8.1, with the westbound ramps closed to traffic. Work on a connection between the interchange and western Metro Manila would only be realized with the construction of the NLEX Segment 9 between the interchange and the

MacArthur Highway The MacArthur Highway, officially the Manila North Road (MNR or MaNor), is a , two-to-six lane, national primary highway and tertiary highway in Luzon, Philippines, connecting Caloocan in Metro Manila to Aparri in Cagayan at the north. It is t ...

Karuhatan Karuhatan is one of the constituent barangays in the city of Valenzuela, Metro Manila, Philippines. Karuhatan is derived from the word "kaduhatan" meaning the " duhat" fruit tree or black plum. It was alternatively spelled as "Caruhatan." Around ...

, which was opened on March 19, 2015. A further extension from Karuhatan to the

Port of Manila The Port of Manila () refers to the collective facilities and terminals that process maritime trade function in harbors in Metro Manila. Located in the Port Area and Tondo districts of Manila, facing Manila Bay, it is the largest and the prem ...

, known as NLEX Segment 10 or NLEX Harbor Link, was opened gradually from February 28, 2019, to June 15, 2020. On November 16, 2012,

Smart Communications Smart Communications Inc., commonly referred to as Smart, is a wholly owned wireless communications and digital services subsidiary of PLDT Inc., a telecommunications and digital services provider based in the Philippines. As of November ...

bought the naming rights to the interchange, calling it Smart Connect Interchange until circa 2021. On June 21, 2021, as part of a greening initiative led by NLEX Corporation, the

Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR; ) is the Executive Departments of the Philippines, executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper use of the cou ...

, and House Deputy Speaker

Eric Martinez Eric Morales Martinez (; born May 3, 1972) is a Filipino politician who is currently a member of House of Representatives from Valenzuela's 2nd district since 2016 and he was the House Deputy Speaker for 18th Congress from 2020 to 2022. E ...

( Valenzuela–2nd), 3181

sapling In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only pla ...

s were planted at the interchange.

References

{{Road infrastructure in Manila Road interchanges in the Philippines