Finally, the PHP 30-billion, 8.9-kilometer expressway in Cebu, the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway or CCLEX, will be opened on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. President Rodrigo Duterte will grace the opening of the new expressway.
But, unlike any other expressway (toll road) here in the country, CCLEX will be the first to allow entry of sub-400cc motorcycles, from 125cc, starting July of this year.
“We are happy to finally announce that motorcycles below 400cc will be allowed on the CCLEX. This is to make this facility more inclusive and accessible to residents and answer a strong clamor from motorcycle users,” said Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway Corporation (CCLEC), President and General, Manager Allan Alfon.
“We encourage motorists to have the CCLEX RFID installed on their vehicles, including motorcycles, in preparation for the electronic and automated toll collection by June,” Alfon added.
The CCLEX Bridge Management Board (BMB), composed of CCLEC president and the LGU-grantors, passed a resolution in February 2022 to allow motorcycles with engine displacement below 400cc, particularly 125cc to 399cc, to also use the expressway.
The BMB said that motorcycles have become the preferred mode of transportation in Cebu, with the Land Transportation Office (LTO) Region VII recording a total of 433,771 registered motorcycles below 400cc for the entire island of Cebu in 2020.
The opening of the 8.9-kilometer CCLEX will coincide with the 501st commemoration of the Kadaugan sa Mactan or Victory in Mactan, which marks the victory of the warriors of Mactan under chieftain Lapulapu over the Spanish armada led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
“We are happy and honored to have come to this point, opening the biggest infrastructure project in this part of the country,” said Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) Chairman Manuel Pangilinan. “We thank President Duterte for honoring us by being part of this historic event.”
“Not far from here, 501 years ago, Cebuanos celebrated a victory in a pitched battle against a superior force. Today, we mark a different milestone, a modern victory not of arms but of engineering and construction that gave us such a beautiful structure that has now become an icon of Cebu,” Pangilinan added.
Work on CCLEX started on July 5, 2018, with ceremonies marking the beginning of civil works. It is MPTC’s first toll road project outside Luzon. CCLEX has a design speed of 60 to 80 kilometers per hour (kph) and a navigational clearance or height of 52 meters to allow large vessels to pass underneath the bridge.
CCLEX will use an all-electronic toll collection system. To give more time to motorists to have the RFID sticker installed on their vehicles, cash payments will be accepted in the meantime. The full electronic toll collection will be implemented by June 2022.
