South Luzon Expressway
The South Luzon Expressway (SLEX), signed as E2 of the Philippine expressway network and R-3 of the Metro Manila arterial road network, is a controlled-access highway that connects Metro Manila to the provinces in the Calabarzon region on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. The expressway has a length of 49.56 km (30.80 miles), traveling from its northern terminus at the Magallanes Interchange in Makati to its southern terminus at Santo Tomas, Batangas, connecting it to the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road. A portion of the expressway from the Magallanes Interchange to the Calamba Exit is part of Asian Highway 26 of the Asian highway network.
R-3 | |
|---|---|
| South Superhighway | |
The expressway in Carmona, Cavite | |
| Route information | |
| Part of AH26 | |
| Maintained by Skyway Operations and Maintenance Corporation and Manila Toll Expressway Systems, Inc. | |
| Length | 49.56 km (30.80 mi) Operational sections only
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| Existed | 1969–present |
| Component highways |
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| Restrictions | No motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles and animal-drawn vehicles south of Sales Interchange |
| Major junctions | |
| North end | AH 26 (N1) (EDSA) / N145 (Osmeña Highway) in Makati |
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| South end | E2 (STAR Tollway) in Santo Tomas |
| Location | |
| Country | Philippines |
| Regions | Calabarzon and Metro Manila |
| Provinces | Batangas, Cavite, and Laguna |
| Major cities | Biñan, Cabuyao, Calamba, Carmona, Makati, Muntinlupa, Parañaque, Pasay, San Pedro, Santa Rosa, Santo Tomas, and Taguig |
| Highway system | |
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The expressway also serves as a major utility corridor, carrying various high voltage overhead power lines and an oil pipeline. Notable power lines using the expressway's right of way for most or part of their route are the Sucat–Paco–Araneta–Balintawak transmission line, and the Biñan–Calamba and Calamba–Bay lines. The Magallanes–Alabang section of the expressway was also used to carry the Batangas–Pandacan oil pipeline.
The South Luzon Expressway was built during the late 1960s as part of the government's plan to develop the areas adjacent to Metro Manila, with SLEX serving the south. The expressway was originally controlled by the Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC), until the expressway's operations and maintenance was transferred on May 2, 2010, to the South Luzon Tollways Corporation (SLTC) and Manila Toll Expressway Systems (MATES). Originally stretching from Magallanes, Makati to Alabang, Muntinlupa, it was extended in the late 1970s towards Calamba, Laguna at the south. In 1995, the expressway's Magallanes–Alabang section began to be rehabilitated and became part of the Skyway System as its at-grade section, as the elevated Skyway was being built above it up to Bicutan. From May 2006 to June 2009, the expressway underwent rehabilitation which modernized the road and its facilities, expanding the Alabang Viaduct as well as the section from Alabang to Calamba and connecting it to the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road in Santo Tomas, Batangas when construction works of Toll Road 3 project reached Santo Tomas Exit in 2009.