This is not particularly aviation related, however, the expressway runs right past
Omni Aviation, where I keep my planes (I could throw a tennis ball from the expressway as I drove past and bounce it off my plane, that's how close it is)
The
Subic, Clark,
Tarlac Expressway, as the name implies, is supposed to link all three Economic Zones (
Freeports) with a corridor.
The expressway was open over E
aster for a dry run, so I figured, why not, lets see how well they have done.
Well, there lies the first problem, getting onto the expressway. Believe it or not, there is no entry/exit point within the Clark
Freeport. What??? You mean we have to exit the zone, fight the traffic and finally get onto the expressway right between the Main and
Mabalacat gates. Yes folks, the entrance is at
Mabiga which is located in a very heavy traffic zone right between the two gates.
Now this was Good Friday (no traffic) it took 30 minutes form
Omni to the Entry at
Mabiga. I would hazard to guess it would be 40-50 minutes on a normal day, IF no trucks decide to use the Entry/Exit.
Ok, so I get off
McArthur Highway and find myself heading AWAY from the expressway! WHAT!!! Fortunately, some kind soul had put a U Turn Slot so we could turn around and head back in the right direction. If we had not made the U Turn, we would have been on the
NLEX headed for Manila
Passing through the toll gate, only a few booths, so they must not figure on high volumes of traffic, we found ourselves on a World Class Road, immaculate. It appears to be a first Class piece of work.
Forty minutes later, I was ordering a Cold Mango Shake at
Magellans Landing on the water at
Subic, wonderful. The
Subic end was a breeze, getting off and on, it all worked and made sense. (Why can't Clark do that?)
Coming back, I planned on seeing how the road to
Tarlac was, lo and behold, I found a
CSEZ Exit, all signed, complete with Toll Booths, magnificent! It was blocked off so it could not be used, slowing down for a peek, I could see why, the road finished 100 meters or so after the toll booths. It goes nowhere!!
Unfortunately, further up, we had to turn around as the
Tarlac Segment was not open, so off to the
Nlex exit and the U Turn Slots again. What a mess!
I am told on good authority (actually, it was a signpost stuck in the side of the road) that there will be a Clark South Exit, just north of
Omni (Hurrah!) I believe that
GMA is insisting on it. Perhaps she is the only one blessed with enough sense to see the need.
We really look forward to the day where we can run down to
Subic for lunch, open up a branch operation in
subic by the water and operate our businesses and lives as if we were in the real world