Southern Tagalog Arterial Road

The expressway was opened on 2001, with its first segment built between Santo Tomas and Lipa. In 2008, it was extended toward Batangas City, and in 2009, the South Luzon Expressway was connected to the STAR Tollway when construction works of the former's Toll Road 3 project reached Sto. Tomas Exit, further shortening travel time between Manila and Batangas.

With increasing traffic demand in the Batangas City – Bauan area and the Batangas Bay area, proposals to extend the expressway are laid out to decongest the existing routes through those areas. Two projects are proposed to extend the expressway to barangay Pinamucan, within Batangas City, and to the municipality of

Route description

The STAR Tollway parallels most of the route of the President Jose P. Laurel Highway, which spurs off from the Maharlika Highway at Santo Tomas towards Lipa and Batangas City, and the Ibaan-Batangas City segment of the Batangas-Quezon Road. The road mostly traverses rural barangays of the cities and municipalities it passes and also overlooks several mountains.

The STAR Tollway starts as the physical extension of

In an effort to link the different Southern Tagalog provinces to the

The STAR Tollway I, from Santo Tomas to Lipa, was opened in 2001; STAR Tollway II, from Lipa to Batangas City, opened in 2008. It was opened as part of the Road Development Project of the government, linking the South Luzon Expressway to STAR Tollway onwards to the Batangas Port in Batangas City. The travel time from Manila to Batangas City was reduced to 2 hours when STAR Tollway II opened. The STAR Tollway Project I and II were funded by Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and implemented by the Department of Public Works and Highways – Urban Roads Project Office (DPWH – URPO).

The STAR Tollway is now under the supervision of the Toll Regulatory Board (TRB) and is being maintained by Star Tollway Corporation, a subsidiary of San Miguel Corporation.^[1]

Renaming

On February 9, 2004, Batangas's 3rd District Congresswoman Victoria Hernandez-Reyes authored House Bill 2753, or also known as the "Act of Renaming the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) to Apolinario Mabini Superhighway (AMS)." On May 15, 2007, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed and approved House Bill 2753 to rename the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road to Apolinario Mabini Superhighway, after the Filipino revolutionary and Batangas native Apolinario Mabini, and it was made into a law called the Republic Act 9462 (RA 9462).^[2]

On January 2, 2011, a fatal head-on collision between a jeep and a bus had occurred on an undivided two-way lane approach between Batangas City and Ibaan, resulting in the deaths of 7 people, and 4 injuries.^[3]

Redevelopment

Announced by the concessionaire, STAR-Infrastructure Development Corporation (SIDC), on May 16, 2013, the STAR Tollway Upgrading and Rehabilitation Project began in July 2013 as announced by SIDC president Melvin Nazareno. Under the rehabilitation project, the expressway undergone several upgrades on its roads and facilities in order to cope with the traffic demand of the expressway and to further improve the safety for motorists. The expressway redevelopment included asphalting the Santo Tomas – Lipa segment, upgrading the Lipa – Batangas City segment to a four-lane divided expressway, improvements on the toll collection system, installation of

Sabang Bridge, which connects the town of Ibaan and Batangas City, was closed to all traffic in December 2016 to repair damage of Typhoon Nina (Nock-ten), leaving Ibaan Exit to be the temporary south end of the expressway.^[6] On August 15, 2017, a partial re-opening of Sabang Bridge was conducted for Class 1 vehicles and on August 20, 2017, it was re-opened to all vehicle classes resuming full operations to and from the Batangas Exit.^[7]

Future

Pinamucan Bypass

A 10 km (6.2 mi) extension of STAR Tollway, is proposed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Batangas as two priority projects that will benefit the province as well as Mimaropa. The proposed extension will increase economic growth in the Batangas Bay area and reduce congestion on existing roads in Batangas City. The project will cost ₱576,000,000, and will pass through the barangays of Tinga Itaas, Tinga Labac, San Pedro, Dumantay, Sampaga, Sirang Lupa, and San Isidro, all in Batangas City.^[8] The project, dubbed the Pinamucan Bypass Road^[9] is expected to be completed before 2021.^[10] Right of way acquisition and construction work began on August 21, 2018, with funding from the Batangas 2nd District engineering office.^[9]

Bauan extension

Another extension to

The whole expressway employs a closed system, where motorists are charged based on the kilometers travelled from the entry to exit point vehicle class. Toll collection is done upon exit at the expressway, SLEX, or MCX or at Skyway's Main toll plaza in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, under San Miguel Corporation's Seamless Southern Tollways program.^[13][14][15]

The expressway fully implements an

The Southern Tagalog Arterial Road currently has three service areas, all of which are Petron stations, with two on the northbound and one on the southbound. The service areas also provide ETC reloading for Autosweep RFID users.

Exits

The entire route is located in

City/Municipality	km	mi	Exit	Name	Destinations	Notes
Folded diamond interchange; northern terminus; continues north as E2 (South Luzon Expressway )
Tanauan	61	38	Sto. Tomas Toll Plaza (pass-thru)
	65	40		Tanauan City (Sambat)	N421 (Tanauan-Talisay National Road) – Tanauan, Talisay, Laurel, Tagaytay	Diamond interchange
Malvar	70	43		Malvar (Bulihan)	Balete-Malvar Provincial Road / Pedro Montecer Street – Malvar, Balete	Diamond interchange
	75	47	Petron KM 75 service area (southbound only)
Lipa	78	48		Santo Toribio (Balete / Leviste)	F. Leviste Highway – Balete	Diamond interchange
	79	49	Petron STAR Tollway service area (northbound only)
	82	51		Lipa City (Tambo)	Folded diamond interchange ; former southern terminus (2001-2008)
	86	53	Petron KM 86 service area (northbound only)
San Jose			No major junctions
Ibaan	93	58		Ibaan (Malainin)	San Jose-Ibaan Road – Ibaan, San Jose	Diamond interchange
Ibaan – Batangas City boundary	99	62	Sabang Bridge
trumpet interchange
	101	63	Batangas (Balagtas) Toll Plaza
	102	63		Batangas (Balagtas)	N4 (Jose P. Laurel Highway) / N434 (Batangas Port Diversion Road) / Batangas–Balete Road – Batangas City, Batangas Port	Roundabout; southern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access        Tolled       Unopened

See also

• Transportation in the Philippines
• Department of Public Works and Highways
• Philippine National Construction Corporation

Notes

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Southern Tagalog Arterial Road.

• Official website
• Contractor website