Southern Tagalog Arterial Road

Expressway in the Philippines

The Southern Tagalog Arterial Road (STAR), commonly known as the STAR Tollway, is a two to four lane controlled access toll expressway in the province of Batangas in the Philippines. It is operated by STAR Infrastructure Development Corporation (STAR – IDC). The expressway is signed as E2 of the Philippine expressway network, alongside the South Luzon Expressway and unspecified portions of the Skyway. The expressway starts at the interchange with the Pan Philippine Highway and the South Luzon Expressway in Santo Tomas and runs southward, near Diversion Road, to Batangas City. It passes through the cities and municipalities of Tanauan, Malvar, Lipa, San Jose, and Ibaan. 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 Bauan. The STAR Tollway is considered as a separate expressway and is not named alternatively as South Superhighway (SSH) despite being connected with SLEX since 2009.

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 South Luzon Expressway (SLEX) past the overpass with the abandoned Philippine National Railways (PNR) branch line to Batangas City and an access road for Light Industry and Science Park III at Santo Tomas. Until 2009, the toll road ended at Santo Tomas Exit. Spanning ,

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.

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 closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras for traffic monitoring, and addition of lighting on some segments. The expansion of the Lipa–Batangas City segment commenced in June 2013, and finished in June 2015 with adding of lights. 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. 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.

Another extension to Bauan, called the Batangas City–San Pascual–Bauan Road is proposed by the Department of Public Works and Highways as an alternative to the existing national road between Batangas City and Bauan. The project is expected to decongest the existing national road, whose traffic demand reached beyond capacity due to roadside establishments, industrial areas, and the Batangas Port, and increase economic development in the Batangas City–Bauan area. The proposed alignment of the toll road will start at the present terminus of STAR Tollway at barangay Balagtas, pass through the northern rural barangays of Batangas City and San Pascual, and end at the national road to Mabini at barangay Manghinao in Bauan. The proposed toll road is being constructed as an at grade bypass only, connecting with Diversion Road, with right of way acquisition and construction works started on February 21, 2018.

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. LocationKilometerNameServicesNotesMalvar75Petron KM 75Petron, Treats, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonald'sSouthbound only. Lipa79Petron Star Tollway (Petron Lipa Star Toll)Petron, Treats, Chowking, Cafe de Lipa, Dunkin' DonutsNorthbound only.86Petron KM 86Petron, Treats, Potato CornerNorthbound only.