Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway

The Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway (TPLEX), signed as E1 of the Philippine expressway network and R-8 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a controlled-access toll expressway that connects the Central Luzon region with the Ilocos Region. From its northern terminus at Rosario in La Union to its southern terminus at Tarlac City, the expressway has a length of 89.21 km, cutting through the various provinces in northern Central Luzon. The expressway also passes Nueva Ecija between Tarlac (Central Luzon) and Pangasinan (Ilocos Region), only that it is not included on the expressway's name because there are no exits to directly serve the province although the exits indirectly serving it are Victoria, Pura, and Anao which are located in Tarlac.

Plans to build an expressway system from Metro Manila to La Union had been raised before the 2000s; construction began in January 27, 2010 and was partially opened in October 30, 2013 for the first segments. The expressway became fully operational in July 15, 2020.

Route description
TPLEX follows a route that parallels the MacArthur Highway, running through the provinces of Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, and La Union. The expressway has four lanes, two per direction, separated by Jersey barriers. Sections by exits, toll plazas, viaducts, and their approaches are illuminated at night. Significant sections are built on embankments overlooking rice paddy fields. The expressway crosses the four rivers in the Pangasinan province. The rivers along the TPLEX are the Agno River, Binalonan River, Aloragat River, and the Bued River.

The Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway starts in Tarlac City as an extension of the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway. The expressway passes through the municipalities of Victoria, Pura, Ramos, and Anao. Significant stretches of the expressway in Tarlac are built on embankments, and existing roads cross through underpasses built on cuts in the embankment. The road passes to Nampicuan and Cuyapo in Nueva Ecija without exit before entering Ilocos Region and Pangasinan, at the municipality of Rosales.

The Pangasinan and Ilocos Region segment of TPLEX starts at the Rosales municipality. The expressway then crosses through a viaduct over the Agno River, then enters Urdaneta, which is served by a single interchange to connect with Manila North Road. The Urdaneta exit was the expressway's northern terminus before the extension to Binalonan. Past Urdaneta Exit, TPLEX crosses above the Manila North Road, then passes over Binalonan and Pozorrubio. The last exit in the province is Sison.

Past the Sison exit, the expressway crosses as a viaduct over the Bued River. The road then enters the Rosario municipality, where the main northern toll plaza is located. Past the Rosario toll plaza, a spur road connects to the Rosario rotunda. This is the expressway's northern terminus. Proposals have been raised to extend the project to Laoag, Ilocos Norte.

Conception and early development
Despite calls to create an expressway system from the Philippine capital of Manila to Rosario, the southernmost town of the La Union province had been raised before the turn of the millennium. These calls began to bear fruit in the mid-2000s. In 2005, construction began on the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEX), a linked expressway system reaching Tarlac City. This was an improvement over the North Luzon Expressway's terminus which reached only to Mabalacat, Pampanga.

In the 1970s and 1990s, the government attempted to build the extension of the NLEX from Pampanga to Pangasinan; however, the plans were never materialized. In 1989, the Philippine National Construction Corporation proposed extending the expressway by 20 kilometers from Mabalacat, Pampanga to Capas, Tarlac, and 82 kilometers to Rosales, Pangasinan, following presidential decrees of 1977 and 1983, but the plan was not implemented.

In 1994, the PNCC entered into a MOU with Italian-Thai Development for the extension of the NLEX to Pangasinan and La Union, as well as the expansion and widening of the expressway from four to eight lanes under the build-operate-transfer scheme. However, the agreement turned into a deadlock, and Congressman Mike Defensor was assailed for imputing motivations to Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. for resolving, and also, Benpres (now Lopez Holdings Corporation), which involved the rehabilitation and expansion of the NLEX, was planned to include the extension to Pangasinan and La Union with agreement as its revision. Nothing came out of that undertaking.

On December 30, 1996, Itochu Corporation of Japan signed an agreement with the PNCC to build the extension of the NLEX to Pangasinan, and a pre-feasibility study was conducted. Meanwhile, the route has a total length of 88 kilometers from Mabalacat, Pampanga, to Urdaneta, Pangasinan, with a planned extension to San Fernando, La Union. When the PNCC and Itochu's proposal was not realized, the extension of the expressway was split into two expressways, the SCTEX and the segment between Clark and Tarlac City, and the TPLEX.

In 2004, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) proposed the 84.5-kilometer extension of the SCTEX to link Club John Hay in Baguio and Poro Point in San Fernando before ending in Rosario, La Union. The project, dubbed SCTEX2, as per House Resolution No. 791, authorized by Rep. Mark Cojuangco of the 5th District of Pangasinan, cited the BCDA for its development effort. The project would later become TPLEX in 2007.

In 2006, Congressional representatives from Northern Luzon took advantage of the final reading of House Bill 5749 to lobby for a project to extend the expressway to Rosario, as a means to boost trade, tourism, and reduce travel times in the provinces of Tarlac, Eastern Pangasinan, and La Union. This lobbying led the Arroyo administration in October 2006 to announce a ten-year plan to extend the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) from Mabalacat, Pampanga, to Rosario, La Union, and extend the South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) from Calamba, Laguna, to Lucena in Quezon, and eventually to Matnog, Sorsogon. In 2008, the SCTEX was formally opened, setting the stage for developing the TPLEX, which would extend beyond the SCTEX's terminus in Tarlac City. The initial construction plan for the TPLEX called for it to be implemented in two phases: The first phase would involve constructing two lanes, with the second phase expanding it to four lanes to accommodate 25,000 vehicles.

The proposed superhighway would be built parallel to MacArthur Highway, passing through the city of Tarlac and the municipalities of La Paz, Gerona, Victoria, Pura, Anao, and Ramos in Tarlac, Nampicuan and Cuyapo in Nueva Ecija, Rosales, Villasis, Urdaneta, Binalonan, Laoac, Pozorrubio, and Sison in Pangasinan, and Rosario, La Union.

The financing, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Tarlac–La Union Toll Expressway Phase 1 was eventually awarded to Private Infra Dev Corporation (now SMC TPLEX Corporation).

Project financing
Three local banks undertook financing the TPLEX: BDO Unibank, Development Bank of the Philippines, and Land Bank of the Philippines. This made TPLEX notable in the Infrastructure and Development Financing industry as "the first Public-Private Partnership project in the Philippines to feature an all-domestic cast of sponsors and lenders.” London-based Project Finance Magazine named the TPLEX as its "Asia Pacific Transport Deal of the Year" for 2011.

The project is being implemented through public-private partnership using the build–operate–transfer (BOT) scheme in which the project proponent is responsible to design, finance and build the initial two-lane expressway. As each section is completed, it is turned over to the government, which then grants the proponent a franchise to operate and maintain the toll road, after which the proponent, once the Toll Regulatory Board issues a toll operation certificate, operates the road under a long term concession agreement with the government.

Land acquisition
In the early development of the project, acquisition of rights of way (ROW) contributed to delays. With the TPLEX identified as a high priority government project, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) was tasked with acquiring the rights of way for the project's proposed alignment, and was allocated ₱793 million ($16.6 million US) in hope that the process could be expedited. However, legal disputes that had arisen regarding affected properties, notably in the Tarlac segment of the project, meant delays in negotiations undertaken by the DPWH.

Alignment of the Rosario interchange
The expected completion of the entire expressway caused a major delay when an unsolicited proposal was brought up to change the alignment of the project to change the location of the final interchange in Rosario, La Union. Former Pangasinan 5th District Representative Mark Cojuangco proposed three alignments: one would pass through Urdaneta City, then San Fabian, and exits Brgy. Cataguintingan of Rosario, La Union. This is about 1.48 km longer from the original TPLEX terminus at barangay Subusob, Rosario. The second proposal will also pass through San Fabian but will end at the original TPLEX end at barangay Subusob. The first two proposals skips Pozorrubio. The third proposal will pass through Pozorrubio, San Fabian, and then end at barangay Subusub. All proposals intend to skip the municipality of Sison. The Cordillera Administrative Region Development Council has rejected the idea. The target completion date had been moved from the end of April 2017 to the end of April 2018.

Phases 1 and 2
The first phase of the Tarlac-La Union Expressway started in January 27, 2010. In April 2013, San Miguel Corporation announced that the segment from Tarlac City up to Urdaneta will be built with four lanes, instead of the initial plan of two lanes only. However, this also pushed back the opening day of the expressway from June 2013 to November 2013.

On October 25, 2013, the Toll Regulatory Board authorized the issuance of the Toll Operation Permit for the Tarlac City–Pura segment of the TPLEX after the construction of that segment was completed by Private Infra Dev Corp. (PIDC), the all-Filipino consortium backed by conglomerates San Miguel Corporation (SMC) and DMCI Holdings, Inc.

This first phase, referred to as section 1A, begins with a connection to SCTEX, then stretches 17 km from Tarlac City to Victoria, and then to Pura, Tarlac. On December 23, 2013, the expressway opened up to Ramos, Tarlac, bringing TPLEX up to 23 km of its operational length, and was officially opened by President Benigno Aquino III. On April 16, 2014, phase 1 of the project was completed when the Rosales section was opened. In December 2014, phase 2 of the project, covering 13.72 km from Carmen to Urdaneta, was opened to traffic, as what PIDC president Mark Dumol had announced on the day the completion of phase 1 was announced.

Phase 3
In December 2014, Dumol projected that the last section, covering 25.83 km from Urdaneta to Rosario and including an exit in Pozorrubio, would be completed some time in 2015. However, there were delays in the implementation of the project, which included a highly disputed proposal to divert the exit 7 km away to San Fabian in Pangasinan. The DPWH and the PIDC announced in July 2015 that they will continue to follow the original plan for the last phase exiting in Rosario, adding that this last phase would be completed by the following year, 2016.

This development phase was further subdivided into phase 3A, from Urdaneta to Pozorrubio, and phase 3B, Pozorrubio to Rosario. Section 3A would include trumpet-type interchanges at Binalonan and Pozorrubio, while section 3B include an interchange at Sison and the roundabout-style terminus interchange in Rosario, La Union.

After the opening of the exit at Pozorrubio in December 2017, the DPWH said segment 3B from Pozorrubio to Rosario is expected to be completed in June 2019. By mid-August 2016, the first exit of section 3A, at Binalonan Exit, had been opened to the driving public. By December 6, 2017, the last exit of section 3A, at Pozorrubio, Pangasinan, had been opened to the driving public. In September 2016, DPWH said this exit of section 3A, which covers the 7.53 km. from Binalonan to Pozorrubio, was supposed to open in December 2016. The Binalonan to Pozorrubio section was expected to open around October 27, 2017, but the section did not open on that date due to the minor right-of-way issues on the missing 1 km fence.

By July 15, 2020, the Pozorrubio to Rosario segment of the expressway opened to motorists, with the exception of the Sison exit, which was still under construction as the main carriageway opened.

La Union extension
As a part of the project of increasing the 200 km radius of High Standard Highways of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) into a 300 km radius from Metro Manila, the expressway will be extended to the city of San Fernando, La Union. There are five interchanges and the route is 59.4 km long. There are also plans to move the extension terminus to San Juan, La Union and will be divided into three segments, namely: In June 2023, the NEDA-ICC approved the project with a total cost of ₱23.4 billion, and it would be funded through a PPP scheme. In November of that year, the government opened a bidding for a comparative proposal as the Swiss challenge was greenlighted by the DPWH, and was originally scheduled to award the contract by March or May 2024.

On June 3, 2024, San Miguel Holdings Corporation (SMHC) was given the contract to design, finance, construct, operate, and maintain the extension project. On July 10 of the same year, President Bongbong Marcos signed a concession agreement with DPWH and SMC, and Segment 1 is expected to be operational by 2028. DPWH secretary Manuel Bonoan said that San Miguel and the government agency could now proceed with the detailed engineering design and right-of-way acquisition after signing the contract for the 59.4-kilometer tollway project.

Laoag extension
On June 11, 2013, at the San Miguel Corporation annual stockholders meeting, Chairman, Eduardo Cojuangco Jr., revealed plans to extend the expressway north to Laoag, Ilocos Norte. He said that extending the toll road to Laoag had been raised during the Arroyo administration.

Pangasinan Link Expressway (PLEX)
On March 21, 2024, San Miguel Holdings Corp.'s Ramon Ang and Pangasinan’s provincial government led by Vice Governor Mark Ronald Lambino, Governor Ramon Guico III and Ramon Guico Jr. unveiled the historical marker for the PHP34 billion 42.76-km. "Pangasinan Link Expressway" project during the groundbreaking ceremony after signing the joint venture and tollway concession agreements for its construction. PLEX connects to TPLEX and provide access to New Manila International Airport. The 3 sections of PLEX Phase 1 include – the 7-km. stretch from Binalonan to Manaoag, the 11.3-km. stretch from Manaoag to Calasiao, and the 22.1-km. stretch from Calasiao to Lingayen, which will also have a 2.4-km. spur road in Calasiao town.

Toll
The Tarlac–Pangasinan–La Union Expressway uses a closed road tolling system where motorists pay tolls according to vehicle class and kilometers travelled. On April 8, 2019, the Auto-sweep electronic toll collection (ETC) system, an RFID enhanced toll system, was implemented at TPLEX. This ensures interoperability with other SMC-operated tollways and those of MPTC's such as NLEX and SCTEX.