STAR Tollway officially reopens Balagtas Tollgate

Heading to Batangas soon? Starting today, the Balagtas Tollgate has officially been reopened to commuters travelling along the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR) tollway. At the moment, the Balagtas Tollgate will only be open to Class 1 vehicles (light vehicles). Only on August 20, will the Balagtas Tollgate be open to all types of vehicles ranging from Class 1 to 3.

The Balagtas Tollgate was previously closed due to the damaged Sabang Bridge. The bridge was closed to traffic in both ways due to it being heavily damaged by Typhoon Nina last December. Vehicles traversing the route both to and from STAR tollway were directed instead to a service road, which further increased travel time.

The Sabang Bridge is an important link between several Batangas towns as well as other provinces within the area. More importantly, it also links the Philippine Ports Authority and Batangas City Port.

With the Balagtas tollgate re-opened, it is expected that an average of 19,000 vehicles, including trucks and buses, will use this route daily.