Marikina–Infanta Highway

Marikina–Infanta Highway
(Marilaque Highway/Marcos Highway)
Marikina–Infanta Highway; (Marilaque Highway/Marcos Highway)
	Eastbound view of the Marikina–Infanta Highway
Route information
Length	117.5 km (73.0 mi)
Component; highways	R-6 R-6; N59 from Bonifacio Avenue in Marikina to Sumulong Highway in Antipolo;
Major junctions
West end	N59 (Aurora Boulevard) / N11 (Katipunan Avenue) in Quezon City–Marikina boundary
	N59 (Sumulong Highway) in Antipolo
East end	N601 (Famy–Real–Infanta Road) in Infanta, Quezon
Location
Country	Philippines
Regions	Metro Manila and Calabarzon
Provinces	Rizal, Laguna, and Quezon
Major cities	Antipolo, Marikina, and Pasig
Towns	Rizal; Baras, Cainta, Pililla, Tanay Laguna; Famy, Santa Maria Quezon Province; Infanta, Real
Highway system
	Roads in the Philippines; Highways; Expressways List; ;

The Marikina–Infanta Highway (also known as Marilaque Highway and Marikina–Infanta Road; formerly known as Marcos Highway) is a 117.5-kilometer (73.0 mi) highway that connects Quezon City, Metro Manila with Infanta, Quezon in the Philippines.

The Marikina–Infanta Highway starts at the intersection with N11/Circumferential Road 5/Katipunan Avenue in Quezon City, near its boundary with Marikina, as a physical continuation of N59/Aurora Boulevard. It traverses the Marikina Valley as a divided highway and passes through Antipolo, intersecting the Sumulong Highway at the Masinag Junction. N59 exits the road to run along Sumulong Highway. After Masinag, the road ascends towards the Sierra Madre mountain range as an undivided highway passing through Tanay, Santa Maria in Laguna, and Infanta in Quezon. The road is famous for the frequent motorcycle racers who use the curvy mountainous roads for joyrides, frequently resulting in major accidents.^[1]^[2]

Route description

The Marikina–Infanta Highway begins as a physical continuation of Aurora Boulevard under the Katipunan Flyover in Quezon City. Entering Marikina, the highway slightly curves at the intersection with Andres Bonifacio Avenue, connecting the Marikina city proper, then crosses the Marikina River. The Diosdado Macapagal Bridge that connects with C-5 merges in front of SM City Marikina. The LRTA's Line 2 System and the Cainta–Marikina sub-transmission line of Meralco parallel and along the highway. The highway makes another slight curve away from Marikina as it enters Pasig. It soon runs over the Cainta–Marikina boundary, then goes straight towards the Cainta–Antipolo boundary towards the Masinag Junction with Sumulong Highway, where it continues to Cogeo in Antipolo. It starts its ascent towards the Sierra Madre mountain range and traverses the municipalities of Tanay in Rizal, Santa Maria in Laguna, and Infanta in Quezon. In Infanta, the highway ends at its intersection with Famy–Real–Infanta Road, just southwest of the town proper.

This divided highway features U-turn slots and bike lanes. Several establishments, such as the Riverbanks Center, SM City Marikina, Ayala Malls Feliz, Robinsons Metro East, Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall, and SM City Masinag, are primary landmarks accessible through the road. Meralco sub-transmission lines line the highway from the Cainta–Masinag segment up to Santa Maria, Laguna and Infanta, Quezon.

From Antipolo to Infanta, the Marikina–Infanta Highway is a standard 2-6 lane road divided by lane markings typical of national highways in the provinces. Road size varies depending on the density of the location and the engineering district, wherein numerous road widening may occur, as determined by the DPWH.

The highway from Evangelista Avenue and Old J.P. Rizal Road to Sumulong Highway has one-way Class I bicycle lanes with a length of 4.57 kilometers (2.84 mi) and a width of 1.1 to 1.2 meters (3.6 to 3.9 ft),^[3] which were established by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) in 2012.^[4] In the 2020s, this was expanded with Class II paint-separated one-way bicycle lanes from the start of the highway up to Evangelista Avenue and Old J.P. Rizal Road as part of the Metropolitan Bike Lane Network.^[5]

Alternative names

Its section in Cainta and Antipolo, particularly from Masinag Junction to the Rizal–Metro Manila boundary, is officially known as Marikina Diversion Road, as it diverts motorists away from the city proper of Marikina.^[6] It is also known as Marilaque Highway, whereas Marilaque is an acronym for the areas it traverses: Marikina, Rizal, Laguna, and Quezon. Street signs tend to bear the Marilaque name due to convenience and memorability. The road has become known for its motorcycle accidents.

Marikina–Infanta Highway or Marikina–Infanta Road was known as Marcos Highway before being renamed^[7] since it once used the name of ex-President Ferdinand Marcos before the name change after the People Power Revolution.^[8]

Route numbers

Since 2014, when the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) began implementing the new route numbering system, its section from Katipunan Avenue to Sumulong Highway has been a component of National Route 59 (N59) of the Philippine highway network. The rest of the road is unnumbered and identified as a tertiary national road.

History

The highway existed as far back as the American colonial era as Highway 55, which included present-day Recto Avenue, Legarda Street, Magsaysay Boulevard, and Aurora Boulevard.^{[citation needed]}

Intersections

Province	City/Municipality	Destinations	Notes
Quezon City–Marikina boundary		N11 (Katipunan Avenue (C-5))	Western terminus. Traffic light intersection. Continues westward to Santa Mesa as N59 (Aurora Boulevard).
Marikina		A. Bonifacio Avenue	Eastbound ramp, and westbound at-grade intersection. Access to Marikina-Infanta Highway eastbound via U-turn slot.
Marikina		FVR Road / Riverbanks Avenue	Modified segregated interchange.
Marikina River		Marikina–Infanta Bridge
Marikina		SM City Marikina Access Road	Westbound access only. Access to SM City Marikina
Marikina		Diosdado Macapagal Bridge / Fernando Avenue	Diosdado Macapagal Bridge - Fernando Avenue Interchange. Towards FVR Road and Fernando Avenue.
Marikina–Pasig boundary
Pasig		Eulogio Amang Rodriguez Avenue / J.P. Rizal Street	Eastbound/westbound access only. Access from opposite direction via U-turn slot.
Pasig–Marikina boundary		Nicanor Roxas Street / Emerald Drive / F. Mariano Avenue	Access from opposite direction via U-turn slot
Marikina		Robinsons Metro East Access Road	Eastbound access only to Robinsons Metro East
		Sta. Lucia East Access Road	Eastbound access to Sta. Lucia East Grand Mall
		Ditchoy Street / Dasdasan Street	Eastbound access only towards residential streets of Barangay San Roque.
Metro Manila–Rizal boundary	Marikina–Cainta boundary	Felix Avenue / Gil Fernando Avenue	Access from opposite directions via U-turn slot. Former traffic light intersection.
Rizal	Antipolo	Golden Meadows Avenue	Eastbound access only.
		Doña Justina Road (Filinvest East)	Westbound access only.
		Napoleon Street (Kingsville Subdivision)	Westbound access only.
		SM City Masinag Access Road	Westbound access only. Access to SM City Masinag
		N59 (Sumulong Highway)	Traffic light intersection; also known as Masinag Junction. Route number change from N59 to unnumbered.
		TOCS Avenue
		Seville Street	Road beside St. John Mary Vianney Parish, in front of SM Center Antipolo Downtown (formerly SM Cherry Antipolo) near Oro Vista Royale and Lumang Bayan Subdivision.
		Dona Vicente Avenue	Road beside Peñafrancia Market.
		Cuenco Avenue (Pagrai Hills Subdivision)	Near Heaven's Gate Memorial Park.
		Olalia Road / GSIS Avenue	Near Cogeo Wet and Dry Market.
		Bayugo–Buliran Road
		Pinugay Road
	Tanay	J.P. Rizal Avenue (Tanay–Sampaloc Road)
Laguna	Santa Maria		Four unnamed roads toward Santa Maria town proper via Brgys. Matalinting, Paoo, Parang ng Buho, and Cueva
Quezon	Infanta	N601 (Famy–Real–Infanta Road)	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Incomplete access Route transition

References

^ Nelz, Jay (August 26, 2020). "Motorcycle Rider Who Dies Due to Exhibition in MaRiLaQue Earns Criticisms".
^ Roces, Iñigo S. (August 20, 2019). "Rider groups want to stop Marilaque hooning".
^ Gozum, Iya (March 9, 2024). "How bike-friendly is Metro Manila? We rode 120 kilometers to investigate". Rappler. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
^ "Metro Manila bikelanes and bikesharing". Official Gazette (Philippines). August 29, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2024.
^ "List of all bike lanes based on DPWH classifications". Freedom of Information Philippines. August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
^ "Road and Bridge Inventory". Department of Public Works and Highways. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
^ Yu, Anson (March 7, 2017). "Marilaque Highway: The long and winding road".
^ Gomez, Quintin (December 19, 2011). "Why was this major highway named after Marcos?". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved December 31, 2021.
^ "North Manila". 2016 DPWH data. Department of Public Works and Highways. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.

14°36′49″N 121°20′8″E / 14.61361°N 121.33556°E / 14.61361; 121.33556

[1] Nelz, Jay (August 26, 2020). "Motorcycle Rider Who Dies Due to Exhibition in MaRiLaQue Earns Criticisms".

[2] Roces, Iñigo S. (August 20, 2019). "Rider groups want to stop Marilaque hooning".

[RapplerBikeLaneReport-3] Gozum, Iya (March 9, 2024). "How bike-friendly is Metro Manila? We rode 120 kilometers to investigate". Rappler. Retrieved March 10, 2024.

[MMDABikeLanes-4] "Metro Manila bikelanes and bikesharing". Official Gazette (Philippines). August 29, 2015. Retrieved March 10, 2024.

[MetroManilaBikeLaneClasses-5] "List of all bike lanes based on DPWH classifications". Freedom of Information Philippines. August 25, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2023.

[dashboard-6] "Road and Bridge Inventory". Department of Public Works and Highways. Retrieved December 31, 2021.

[7] Yu, Anson (March 7, 2017). "Marilaque Highway: The long and winding road".

[8] Gomez, Quintin (December 19, 2011). "Why was this major highway named after Marcos?". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved December 31, 2021.

[9] "North Manila". 2016 DPWH data. Department of Public Works and Highways. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017. Retrieved August 13, 2017.

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