Roadways in Philippines consist of 199,950 kilometers (124,249 miles) of roads, of which 39,590 kilometers (24,601 miles) are paved. In the first quarter of 2000, infrastructure projects got the biggest share of Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans, taking 66 percent of the $11.4 billion ODA package extended to the Philippines. Among the projects are plans to decongest traffic by expanding roads and building bridges and highway interchanges.
As of 2004, the total length of the non-toll road network was reported to be 202,860 km, with national roads accounting for 15 percent of the total, provincial roads 13 percent, and city/municipal roads 12 percent and barangay roads 60 percent. Road classification is based primarily on administrative responsibilities (with the exception of barangays), i.e., which level of government built and funded the roads. Most of the barangay roads are unpaved village-access roads built in the past by Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) but devolved to Local Government Units. Farm-to-market roads fall under this last category and a few are financed by the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Agriculture.
The two important toll roads are the North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway, constructed by DPWH in 1975–1977 and subsequently franchised to a private company, Construction and Development Corporation of the Philippines, in 1977 (later taken over by the government and renamed Philippine National Construction Corporation).
When the Build-Operate-Transfer Law and its amendment in 1994 was passed, the Philippine National Construction Corporation entered into several joint-venture agreements with the private sector to rehabilitate, upgrade and extend the North Luzon Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway, as well as expand the expressway system. Other toll roads have under private concessions such as the Manila Cavite Toll Expressway and the Southern Tagalog Arterial Road.
Large parts of the road network continue to be in poor condition (only 20 percent of the total road network is paved). Inadequate connectivity and the lack of a sustainable road safety strategy likewise reduce the efficiency of the road network in promoting growth and providing safe access.
