By Henry Empeño | September 22, 2026

SAN MARCELINO, Zambales — The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is proposing the construction of a 48.5-kilometer bypass road connecting the towns of San Marcelino, Zambales and Floridablanca, Pampanga to serve as an alternative route between the two provinces.

San Marcelino Mayor Elvis Soria said personnel from the DPWH-Zambales 2^nd District Engineering Office discussed the proposed San Marcelino-Floridablanca Bypass Road Project here on Monday, September 21, following the conduct of initial feasibility studies.

The meeting, Soria said, was part of the agency’s information and education campaign for the project that will affect residents of upland communities in the municipality.

“There are certain road issues that need to be addressed as part of the technical assessment, and the discussion focused on that,” Soria said.

“We also discussed the project benefits and the next steps for better planning and project execution,” he added.

The proposed bypass road will cover four upland barangays in San Marcelino, one in Subic, Zambales, and two others in Floridablanca.

The Zambales alignment will start at Barangay Nagbunga here, pass through the villages of San Rafael, Aglao, and Buhawen, continue through Batiawan in Subic, and then connect to the Pampanga alignment in Barangays Gutad and Carmencita.

The road project, which includes the construction of at least eight bridges, is programmed to be completed in six years, with approximately five years devoted to construction, the DPWH said.

It will be implemented by the DPWH-Regional Office III with assistance from the agency’s Project Preparation Division, Planning Services.

DPWH has conducted focus group discussions on the project in affected barangays here starting this month to apprise residents of project impact and benefits, LGU officials said.

The proposed 48.5km road is expected to ease travel between Zambales and Pampanga and boost access and delivery of government services to remote villages like Batiawan, a barangay in Subic that could only be accessed by vehicles through Dinalupihan, Bataan and Floridablanca.

Currently, motorists in Zambales take a 65-km drive through Olongapo City and Dinalupihan to reach Floridablanca, with travel time of almost two hours.

The roadway project will also enhance economic mobility and productivity among upland communities that rely mostly on farming for their livelihood, including indigenous Aeta tribes engaged in foraging and upland agriculture, as well as tour guiding in eco-tourism sites in their ancestral domain.

The proposed San Marcelino-Floridablanca Bypass Road Project will be the third bypass road system to cut through the Zambales mountain range that separates the coastal province from neighboring areas.

The first is the 84-kilometer Capas-Botolan Bypass Road designed to directly link Botolan, Zambales to Capas, Tarlac. The ongoing project connects to the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) and the Airport-New Clark City Access Road, bypassing long routes through Bataan and Pampanga.

The second is the 54-kilometer Sta. Cruz-Mangatarem Road, popularly known as “Daang Kalikasan,” which connects Zambales’s northernmost town of Sta. Cruz to Mangatarem, Pangasinan, bypassing the western coastal road that runs through western Pangasinan. ▲