Manila–Cavite Expressway

The Manila–Cavite Expressway (more popularly known as CAVITEX), signed as E3 of the Philippine expressway network and R-1 of Metro Manila's arterial road network, is a 14 km controlled-access highway linking Manila to the southern province of Cavite in the Philippines. At its north end, it feeds into and from Roxas Boulevard in the city of Parañaque in Metro Manila, also part of R-1. At the south end, it splits into two termini, both along the north coast in Kawit, Cavite. The first feeds into the intersection of Covelandia Road, Tirona Highway and Antero Soriano Highway. The second southern terminus is an exit-only to Tirona Highway in Barangay Marulas.

The expressway also serves as a major utility corridor, carrying various high voltage power lines and water pipelines across the densely populated areas of Parañaque and Las Piñas. The final section of the Dasmariñas–Las Piñas Transmission Line and Las Piñas substation of National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) were placed beside the highway. Meralco also has subtransmission lines on tall steel poles placed along the highway, and Maynilad also has pipelines along the route.

CAVITEX is operated and maintained by the Public Estates Authority Tollway Corporation (PEATC), a non-chartered government-owned and controlled corporation (GOCC), a subsidiary of the Public Estates Authority (PEA), a government agency under the Office of the President, and is in a joint venture with the Cavite Infrastructure Corporation, a unit of Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC).

Route description


The Manila–Cavite Expressway follows a mostly curving route on the southwestern shore of Manila Bay, and the Bacoor–Kawit extension is built on reclaimed land near the coastal barangays of Bacoor. The road uses a barrier toll system, which involves toll barriers at entry points and no toll collection at the exit points, except at the Kawit and Parañaque toll plazas. The expressway is a physical extension of Roxas Boulevard. Lane count is usually 4 lanes for the NAIA Road–Bacoor section (the original route of the expressway known as Coastal Road) per direction and 2 lanes at the Bacoor–Kawit segment (known as the Kawit extension) per direction.

The expressway starts at the traffic light intersection with NAIA Road, Roxas Boulevard, and New Seaside Drive in Barangay Tambo. Past the intersection is an eastbound entrance and westbound exit of NAIA Expressway. The only at-grade intersection of the expressway then comes at its intersection with Pacific Avenue, where southbound motorists are also carried by the Pacific Avenue flyover. An entry point to the northbound from the Kabihasnan area of Parañaque is found before the approach to the Parañaque toll plaza. The expressway widens on approach to the Parañaque toll plaza, where tolls for southbound motorists are collected. After Parañaque toll plaza is a right-in/right-out interchange with the Circumferential Road 5 (C-5) Extension, which is accessible only from the northbound direction. The expressway then enters the province of Cavite and passes Bacoor (Longos) Exit, the original end of the expressway at Bacoor, where the original alignment involved a curve that was changed to a full interchange with the opening of the Kawit extension. CAVITEX past Bacoor Exit becomes a four-lane dual carriageway on reclaimed land built on the shores of seaside barangays of Bacoor. The expressway widens once again at approach to the Kawit toll plaza. The terminus at Kawit is a box intersection with Tirona Highway, Covelandia Road, and Antero Soriano Highway, which is the physical extension of the existing expressway. The end of the expressway at Kawit will accommodate the Cavite end of the under-construction Cavite–Laguna Expressway.

Proposed Cavite Boulevard
Even before the conception of the expressway, the Cavite Boulevard was planned by Architect Daniel Burnham to connect the city of Manila with the province of Cavite as part of his plan to beautify the city. According to his original concept of the Cavite Boulevard, the bayfront boulevard would be built on reclaimed land from Luneta in Manila to Cavite Navy Yard about 20 mi away as it follows the shoreline to Cavite. However, the present-day Roxas Boulevard, a part of this plan, was built up to Parañaque only.

As an untolled road
In 1963, Republic Act No. 3572 was enacted to allocate funds for the extension of Dewey Boulevard (now Roxas Boulevard) to Cavite City, realizing the long-envisioned plan for the bayfront boulevard initially conceived by Daniel Burnham. In 1973, under the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, they proposed a planned highway, dubbed the Manila Bay Coastal Road Project, and its route would be started at the CCP Complex near the Manila-Pasay Boundary to Bacoor. However, this was later converted into two boulevards: Macapagal Boulevard and Jose W. Diokno Boulevard. The Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines (CDCP), now the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC), entered into a contract with the Republic of the Philippines, represented by the then Department of Public Highways (DPH), now the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), dated November 20, of that year, for the construction of the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road and the reclamation of some portions of the foreshore and off-shore lands along Manila Bay at PNCC’s own expense, otherwise known as the Manila-Cavite Coastal Road and Reclamation Project (MCCRRP).

In response to the daily traffic congestion in the narrow passage between Parañaque and Las Piñas leading to Cavite, the government later constructed a 6.6 km, four-lane (two on each side) asphalt reclaimed road from Roxas Boulevard leading to the then-municipalities of Parañaque, Las Piñas, and Bacoor which opened in 1985. In 1988, the final construction work was completed and conducted that year, and it was expanded into four lanes. Originally named as the Manila–Cavite Coastal Road, it was renamed to Aguinaldo Boulevard in 1989.

Development and construction
The road deteriorated so fast that there was a need to upgrade the road and upgrade the same to toll standards. This led to the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway Project (MCTEP), more popularly known as “Coastal Road”. It is a joint venture project of the Public Estates Authority (now called Philippine Reclamation Authority) and the Malaysian group of Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) and Renong Berhad (Renong).

The project is an offshoot of the February 3, 1994, state visit to the Philippines of then Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, where a Memorandum of Understanding for a joint and cooperative implementation of critical infrastructure projects in the Philippines was signed. The MOU provided, among others, the construction and completion of the Manila-Cavite Toll Expressway and the expansion, extension, and modernization of other roadways and tollway systems. The project is a major component of a vast network of inter-urban roads traversing six municipalities, namely: Paranaque, Las Piñas, Bacoor, Imus, Kawit, and Noveleta.

On December 27, 1994, a Joint Venture Agreement by and between the PEA, Mara and Renong was signed whereby PEA shall ensure that all land and rights of way necessary are made available for the carrying out of the Design and Construction Works obligation of the Malaysian parties. The groundbreaking of the new expressway was held on September 14, 1995. On July 26, 1996, the Toll Operation Agreement between the Republic of the Philippines (acting through the Toll Regulatory Board), Public Estates Authority and UEM-Mara Philippines Corporation was signed. It was under this Agreement that PEA Tollway Corporation (PEATC) was created. Under the Agreement, PEATC is to undertake and perform the obligations of PEA which is principally the Operation and Maintenance of the toll roads or any segment thereof. Commercial operations started on May 24, 1998.

On December 15, 1999, Coastal Road Corporation, a wholly-owned Filipino entity bought the entire shares of UEM and MARA in UEM-Mara Philippines Corporation. The buy-out officially relinquished all the obligations and liabilities of the Malaysian Companies under the JVA and the TOA, as CRC took over the management of the project and immediately undertook the unfinished portions of the MCTE Project.

On November 14, 2006, an Operations and Maintenance Agreement was signed among the Philippine Reclamation Authority, UEM-Mara Philippines Corporation (UMPC), and the Toll Regulatory Board, giving UMPC participation in the Operations and Maintenance of the expressway. In December 2012, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation acquired Cavitex Holdings Inc. for P6.77 billion, and the company assumed management assistance on January 2, 2013.

Extensions and expansions
On February 7, 2004, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo led the groundbreaking rites for the extension called Segment 4. In the following year, the construction of the expressway's 7 km extension from Bacoor to Kawit, Cavite, known as the R1 Expressway Extension, was started; it was inaugurated on April 27, 2011 by President Benigno Aquino III and formally opened to motorists on May 1. In 2015, the C-5 Road was extended south to connect to the northbound lanes of the expressway in Las Piñas.

On December 28, 2016, the access ramps connecting Coastal Road and NAIA Expressway opened to motorists coming from Cavite and Las Piñas for easier access to NAIA Terminals 1, 2, and 3 and vice versa.

The Pacific Avenue flyover, which was planned in 2016, started construction in 2017 and was expected to be complete by March 2018. However, due to difficulties in transporting equipment and the location of the flyover in between the northbound and southbound parts of the expressway, the completion date was moved to August 2018. The flyover eliminated the signalized intersection for vehicles bound for Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard via Pacific Avenue and improved the traffic situation around the said intersection.

By June 2018, the expressway is being expanded with the construction of additional lanes on the NAIA–Zapote segment.

Dispute over the expressway operations
In 2024, PEATC demanded the turnover of the operations and maintenance (O&M) of the expressway from the Cavitex Infrastructure Corporation, and the company belied the claims of the Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC) in the mandamus case filed before the Court of Appeals (CA) for the return of the CAVITEX. In May of that year, PEATC insisted on its right to be in control of the management and collection of fees amid a row with another company that has already reached the Court of Appeals. CAVITEX Infrastructure Corp. has filed with PEATC over the alleged unauthorized filing of a petition seeking to remove CIC’s right to manage and operate the expressway.

However, the government cannot seize control of operations and maintenance before the expiration of its concession period. The CIC said all the costs of the private concessionaire will have to be refunded if the PEATC, a government-owned and controlled corporation, insists on taking over the CAVITEX operations.

C-5 connection
CAVITEX–C-5 Link is a 7.7 km, six-lane road which will connect C-5 Road from Taguig to CAVITEX. It entails the construction of a 2.2 km flyover between the C-5 Road in Taguig and the C-5 Road Extension in Pasay (near Merville) over the South Luzon Expressway and Skyway. The second phase includes the completion of the C-5 Road Extension from Merville to Las Piñas and the construction of an interchange with Coastal Road in Parañaque. It is a component of Expressway 2.

The construction of the ₱9.5B CAVITEx–C5 South Link project started on May 8, 2016. Phase 1 was opened to traffic on July 23, 2019 and completion of the project is expected in 2025.

CAVITEX–CALAX Link
A 1.3 km elevated connector road from Kawit to the greater Calabarzon that will connect CAVITEX and Cavite–Laguna Expressway (CALAX) is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2025. It will complete the Expressway 3 link gap by joining the respective Kawit interchanges of both expressways via the Antero Soriano Highway's right-of-way in Kawit.

On June 21, 2024, President Bongbong Marcos and Manuel Pangilinan led the groundbreaking of the CAVITEX–CALAX Link.

NLEX Harbor Link connection
A proposal to connect the NLEX Harbor Link in Navotas with CAVITEX near Pacific Avenue was revealed by NLEX Corporation to connect NLEX to CAVITEX seamlessly. The expressway will be a 6-lanes elevated expressway (on the majority of the expressway above R-10 and R-1) and built in phases. NLEX is currently proposing the first phase of this expressway, with a length of 5.1 km from Navotas Interchange of NLEX Harbor Link on Navotas to Anda Circle in Manila, with the proposed budget between ₱15 billion and ₱16 billion. Also, this plan would have connected to CAVITEX in the future with a total length of 9.4 kilometers, but the project was not realized when San Miguel Corporation proposed its own expressway project known as the Southern Access Link Expressway (SALEX), using the same alignment as NLEX Corporation and CIC's proposal.

Segment 5
In the 1990s, Segment 5 of the expressway was proposed, and the extension would have been a 4-km extension from Kawit to the intersection of EPZA Diversion Road in Noveleta. However, the route was revised when the development of CALAX started in the 2010s.

In 2018, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation submitted a proposal to the Toll Regulatory Board to extend the expressway from Kawit to Noveleta, as well as an extension further west up to Tanza and north up to Cavite City. The 9.5 km extension is estimated to cost ₱22.5 billion. A part of the R1 Expressway Extension project that includes the existing Segment 4 (Zapote–Kawit segment), the project proposal also includes a spur road accommodating vehicles from the Cavite Export Processing Zone.

Sangley Point extension
A proposal to extend the expressway from Kawit to Sangley Point Airport in Cavite City was submitted to the Department of Public Works and Highways in 2017 by CAVITEx Holdings, Inc. The proposed project aims to construct a 4.63 km viaduct. Its cost is yet to be determined as it awaits approval from the government. It is not to be confused with Segment 5.3, which will branch from Noveleta to Cavite City.

Toll
The expressway features a limited number of interchanges. The original south terminus of the expressway in Bacoor has been converted into a full trumpet interchange. There are two toll barriers on the expressway: the original barrier in Parañaque and the extension barrier in Kawit. The expressway also features a one-way mini toll booth feeding into the expressway from Quirino Avenue, Parañaque. Vehicles are charged a flat toll rate based on vehicle class.

The expressway employs a barrier toll system at entry points, with fixed toll rates. Toll collection points are the Parañaque, Kawit, and Kabihasnan entry toll plazas. Exit points do not have toll collection, except at Kawit and Parañaque toll plazas. Once complete, toll payments for vehicles that will also use the CAVITEX–C-5 Link will be collected at its Sucat toll plaza instead of the Parañaque toll plaza. PEATC has also incorporated a near-field communication prepaid card it calls E-TAP. The Expressway also now accepts an electronic toll collection (ETC) system called Easytrip RFID, which currently manages ETC for the North Luzon Expressway, Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway, and Cavite–Laguna Expressway. ETC collections are done on both dedicated lanes and mixed lanes at the toll barriers.

The expressway is currently toll-free until July 30, 2024.