SLEx TR4 Portion to Open by Year-End, Slashing Travel Times

MANILA, Philippines — A portion of the Toll Road 4 (TR4) of the South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) will be operational before 2026 ends, the Department of Transportation (DOTr) said on Wednesday. According to the DOTr, the travel time from Sto. Tomas, Batangas to Tiaong, Quezon and vice versa will be reduced from two hours to just 30 minutes once the Package A to C becomes open to motorists by then. “By the end of this year, we can start using the TR4, we can inaugurate it… Our target for the phase three operations of TR4 is by November, December,” Transport Secretary Giovanni Lopez said in an interview with ANC Headstart. Lopez then noted that the usual travel time of four hours for the whole TR4 will be lessened to one hour once the whole toll road opens. “It’s a big ticket project in coordination and in partnership also with the DPWH [Department of Public Works and Highways]. So that’s what we expect to be operating in the road sector within a year,” Lopez added. The agency shared that around 17,000 motorists will benefit from the SLEx TR4 daily. The construction of the 66.74-kilometer SLEx TR4 began in March 2019. According to the DPWH, the toll road costs 58.42 billion (excluding Package F) as of December 2023. The project is composed of six packages: 11.32-km Package A (Santo Tomas, Batangas to Makban, Laguna); 12.75-km Package B (Makban, Laguna to San Pablo, Laguna); 7.5-km Package C (San Pablo, Laguna to Tiaong, Quezon); 15-km Package D (Tiaong, Quezon to Candelaria, Quezon); 10.21-km Package E (Candelaria, Quezon to Tayabas, Quezon); and 9.96-km Package F (Tayabas, Quezon to Brgy. Mayao, Lucena, Quezon). /mr