Central Luzon Link Expressway

The Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX), also known as the Central Luzon Link Freeway, is a partially operational expressway in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. It will connect the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and the Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway (TPLEX) to the currently under-construction North Luzon East Expressway in Cabanatuan towards San Jose, Nueva Ecija. It is currently toll-free and exclusively open to Class 1 vehicles but it will be tolled and opened to other classes of vehicles in the future.

The untolled section from Tarlac City to La Paz is designated as National Route 308 (N308) of the Philippine highway network.

Route description
CLLEX runs in an east-west direction from Tarlac City to San Jose, Nueva Ecija. The entire route is built as a four-lane expressway mostly laid out on embankment.

Phase 1
From the west, CLLEX begins at a trumpet interchange with the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX) and Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway (TPLEX) in Tarlac City. The expressway intersects Santa Rosa–Tarlac Road at a diamond interchange where the expressway passes above grade. The expressway then passes agricultural land, before turning east as it enters La Paz. It crosses La Paz–Victoria Road where an interchange serving entering westbound vehicles and exiting eastbound vehicles, connects the two. The expressway continues east as it crosses through a viaduct over the Rio Chico River, and crosses the Tarlac–Nueva Ecija boundary before crossing the Talavera River.

The expressway then continues east as it enters Zaragoza, Nueva Ecija. It turns northeast as it meets Zaragoza interchange, a trumpet interchange connecting with Zaragoza–Aliaga Road. It makes a reverse curve turning southeast before crossing Guimba–Aliaga Road as it enters Aliaga then San Juan, where the exit is built as the expressway's current terminus.

History
In 2010, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) formulated the creation of an expressway network under the High Standard Highway Network Development Master Plan, focusing on a growth area within the 200 km radium sphere of Metro Manila. The DPWH, under JICA's assistance, completed the feasibility study for the proposed Central Luzon Expressway (CLEX) on the same year.

The proposed project was to divided into two (2) phases: Phase 1 with a 30.7 km network beginning from the connection of SCTEX and TPLEX in Balingcanaway, Tarlac City and ends at the Pan-Philippine Highway (Daang Maharlika) in Caalibangbangan, Cabanatuan; and Phase 2 with 35.7 km network beginning from the Phase 1 terminus in Cabanatuan and ends at San Jose town proper.

The project was renamed to Central Luzon Link Expressway (CLLEX) in 2011 after the preparatory survey and final report plan for Phase 1 was concluded.

JICA would fund the construction of the 66.4 km CLLEX, while operation and maintenance would be under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. The construction of the CLLEX Phase 1 project was funded thru the Official Development Assistance (Japan) grant of ¥22,796,000,000 (₱11.87 billion, March 2012 exchange rate) at a signing agreement ceremony by the Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo and Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Toshinao Urabe.

In President Benigno Aquino III's State of the Nation address in 2014, the CLLEX was mentioned as one of many of the administration's priority projects involving massive infrastructure spending in Central Luzon.

In 2015, Manila North Tollways Corporation (later NLEX Corporation) was interested in a public auction for CLLEX Phase 2 through the PPP scheme. However, the bidding for the project never went through.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held on September 22, 2017, along with the beginning of construction. The expressway was originally planned to open in December 2020, but was repeatedly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first 18 km of the expressway from Tarlac City to Aliaga was inaugurated by President Rodrigo Duterte on July 15, 2021. The expressway opened to vehicles on the same day.

In July 2022, DPWH announced that CLLEX will be completed by July 2024. The current Phase 1 terminus in Aliaga will see an extension of seven kilometers up to San Juan Interchange and four kilometers to Umangan–Julo Road, before ending at Felipe Vergara Highway and the Pan–Philippine Highway.

In August 2022, SMEC was appointed to serve as a consultant and a transaction advisor. This also provided services for the development of the expressway's second phase and the operations and maintenance under PPP.

In April 2024, Hermogenes Ebdane, the Regional Development Council’s Sectoral Committee on Infrastructure Development and the Regional Peace and Order Council in Central Luzon, announced that CLLEx right-of-way had been resolved, adding that affected landowners who established barricades along the route had dismantled them.