User:Godsy/N4 highway (Philippines)

Route 4, mostly known by their respective named segments, is a primary national road running within the province of Batangas. The Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (E2) roughly parallels the highway, on the east side and they cross each other at Lipa. The highway includes a short bypass route over the poblacion of Santo Tomas, that spurs from the main highway and joins Maharlika Highway at Santo Tomas Junction.

Route description


Route 4 is a 49 km primary national road completely lying within Batangas. The route runs in a north-south orientation, and mostly running in residential barangays. On most of the route, the road is two to four lanes, other than the Ayala Highway segment, which has six lanes with a divider and a small degree of grade separation, and upgraded from an undivided four-lane highway. Many two-lane segments with increasing traffic are being widened to four lanes by adding new lanes through adding new lane lines, or paving the soft shoulders with concrete or asphalt.

Santo Tomas - Lipa
Route 4 starts at Santo Tomas as a spur of Maharlika Highway (AH26), and enters the municipality's poblacion, or town center. Another road, built as a bypass to the route around town, also numbered 4, connects Maharlika Highway with the Route 4 mainline at barangay San Roque.

The road then enters Tanauan, and becomes a divided road with a plant-lined center island. Route 421, which leads to Tagaytay via Talisay, leaves Route 4 at the traffic light intersection at the city downtown. Route 4 changes back to an undivided road, passing on the residential barangays of Tanauan, and then enters the municipality of Malvar, where the road becomes a four-lane road through the poblacion. Pedro Montecer Street, which connects the parallel STAR Tollway, intersects Route 4 at the poblacion. The route leaves the municipal center, and passes through the rural barangays of Malvar, and then enters Lipa, near the LIMA Industrial Park, that lies on the municipal boundaries.



On barangay Inosluban, Route 4 widens to a four-lane road. At Marawoy, Governor F. Leviste Highway (Balete Road), that links STAR Tollway and Balete, and Lipa City-Alaminos Road, that links Lipa and Alaminos in Laguna ends at Route 4. At a roundabout near SM City Lipa, Route 431 starts, and Route 4 changes into a six-lane bypass route, the Ayala Highway, a partially grade-separated road lined with businesses. At Mataas na Kahoy, the second route of Route 431 merges at a roundabout near Robinsons Place Lipa.

Lipa-Batangas City
From Mataas na Kahoy, within Lipa, Route 4 becomes a four-lane highway, and passes over De La Salle Lipa. The road crosses the abandoned (and the future) Batangas Line of the Philippine National Railways, which has been lined with houses and 69,000 volt power lines, at Tambo. The STAR Tollway crosses above Route 4 also at Tambo, where Lipa Exit, a folded diamond interchange, directly connect both routes. Route 4 passes on the mostly residential barangays of Tambo and Sico, and runs south of Fernando Air Base, which is served by a short spur of Route 4, Route 432. A provincial road the links the nearby municipality of Mataasnakahoy, intersects the route southwest of Fernando Air Base. Route 4 then enters barangay Banaybanay, and Route 433, a secondary national road, spurs out of the mainline to connect the municipality of Cuenca, Alitagtag, and the western municipalities of Batangas.

Route 4 then enters San Jose, on barangay Banaybanay 2, a rural barangay. The section over Banaybanay was formerly two lanes, but is expanded to four lanes in 2016 to accomodate increasing traffic. Route 4 winds though a coconut-tree filled area, before it climbs and closely parallels the future Batangas railway line. Approaching Banaybanay 1, a 69,000 volt subtransmission line by Batangas II Electric Cooperative enters Route 4 from the abandoned Batangas railway line, and lines Route 4 until Mahabang Parang in Batangas City, where a National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) substation stands as its southern terminal.



Before entering the municipal center of San Jose, Route 4 curves to bypass the poblacion and follow a four-lane bypass route over barangay Taysan. Another section of a 69,000 volt subtransmission line along the abandoned Batangas railway line enter the highway for a kilometer before joining the abandoned railway again past barangay Taysan. From barangay Santo Cristo, Route 4 follows a winding route that parallels the former Batangas railway line, and passes through barangay Calansayan and Aguila. The highway over those barangays have undergone widening to cater increasing traffic on the route. On the marked boundary of San Jose and Batangas City, change of electric power distribution providers on the areas can be seen, with a Meralco line starting to end at the San Jose boundary marker, and a Batangas II Electric Cooperative line entering Batangas City before following a narrow road westward to enter San Jose again.

The road then enters Batangas City, at the rural barangay of Concepcion. Two 69,000 volt lines enter the highway and run along it up to Mahabang Parang. Route 4 passes on the residential areas, and enters Mahabang Parang, where the three 69,000 volt lines leave for Batangas Substation. At the vicinity of Batangas Substation, two parallel Meralco 69,000 lines enter the road, and a 230,000 volt line from the Santa Rita-San Lorenzo-San Gabriel power plant and three 69,000 volt lines on smaller posts cross the highway. The abandoned Batangas line crosses also along with one 69,000 volt line. The highway soon widens into four lanes up to Balagtas, except for a bridge over the Balagtas River, which remains four-lane and is undergoing widening.

At Balagtas, Route 4 intersects with STAR Tollway (the southern terminus), Route 434 (N434), also known as Diversion Road or Bauan-Batangas Provincial road, and Bantangas-Balete road, at a roundabout (Balagtas Rounda), built after the completion of the Lipa-Batangas City section of the former. The highway married into a two-lane highway that passes on the suburban barangays of Batangas City. On Kumintang Ibaba, approaching the Batangas Provincial Capitol, the road changes back to four lanes, an addition to the originally two-lane highway, up to a traffic light with Calicanto Road (Route 436), where Route 4 turns left to P. Burgos Street. From the interaction with Route 436, it follows P. Burgos, until the Rizal Monument near the Batangas City Hall complex, Plaza Mabini, Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, and St. Bridget College.

History
Route 4 is commissioned by the Department of Public Works (DPWH) and Highways from 2014, under the Route Numbering System, and is assigned to the Manila-Batangas Road from Santo Tomas to Batangas City, which is its mainline route. The DPWH also assigned the number 4 to the short bypass route that connects the mainline with Maharlika Highway at Santo Tomas Junction.

The present route of Route 4 mostly follows the American-era Route 19, which connects the port town of Batangas (present-day Batangas City) with Route 1 in Santo Tomas.

Most of the highway is named Jose P. Laurel Highway, in honor to the President of the Third Philippine Republic, Jose P. Laurel.

Diversion Road (Batangas City)
Diversion Road, designated Route 434, is a diversion route in Batangas City that connects barangay Balagtas with Route 436 and Batangas Port, and bypasses Route 4 over the suburban barangays of Alangilan and Kumintang Ibaba. The road was built to provide heavy trucks an route toward the port and the nearby municipalities of San Pascual and Bauan, without passing through the suburbs and the  downtown (poblacion) area. Diversion Road is built with four lanes, and runs on a mostly rural area that is slowly developing with many businesses being established around the route. Throughout the route, 69,000 volt lines by Meralco, completed and energized in 2015, run beside the road and connect to the two substations that provide the city and the nearby municipality of San Pascual power. The new public transport terminal of Batangas City, in the outskirts of barangay Alangilan, is built along the route. The southern terminus at Bolbok was formerly a completely at-grade intersection with Route 436 and the access road to Batangas Port, until a flyover was completed in 2006 for through traffic to the port from Diversion Road and vice versa.

General references
Philippine highway network