During the planning stages of
Circumferential Road 5 (C-5), a planned interchange with the
Manila North Expressway (now North Luzon Expressway) was also in place. Based on a 1980 feasibility study by the
Japan International Cooperation Agency, the proposed location of the interchange, then known as C-5/Manila North Expressway Interchange, was at MNEX's bend in
Valenzuela. Construction of
NLEX Segment 8.1, including the present-day Harbor Link Interchange on the same proposed site, broke ground on April 2, 2009, with actual construction work beginning 19 days later. The entire segment was opened to traffic on June 5, 2010, with President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and
Manuel V. Pangilinan, chairman of the
Manila North Tollways Corporation, the concessionaire of the North Luzon Expressway, leading the inauguration along with
Public Works and Highways Secretary Victor Domingo and high-ranking officials from Valenzuela. With some 30,000 vehicles estimated to use the new road daily during its first year of operation, which is three times smaller. A further extension from Karuhatan to the
Port of Manila, known as
NLEX Segment 10 or NLEX Harbor Link, was opened gradually from February 28, 2019, to June 15, 2020. On November 16, 2012,
Smart Communications bought the naming rights to the interchange, calling it Smart Connect Interchange until circa 2021. On June 21, 2021, as part of a greening initiative led by NLEX Corporation, the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and
House Deputy Speaker Eric Martinez (
Valenzuela–2nd), 3181
saplings were planted at the interchange. ==References==