Circumferential Road 5

Segment 8.1 (Mindanao Avenue Link) of the NLEX looking west towards Harbor Link Interchange.

From MacArthur Highway in Karuhatan, Valenzuela to Harbor Link Interchange, a cloverleaf interchange with the main line of the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), C-5 is known as NLEX Karuhatan Link or NLEX Segment 9. It is also the first segment of the NLEX Harbor Link project, which connects the NLEX with Port of Manila.[6] The entire 2.4-kilometer (1.5 mi) toll road is designated as a part of C-5 Road.

From the Harbor Link Interchange to a 3-way signalized junction with Mindanao Avenue, C-5 is known as NLEX–Mindanao Avenue Link or NLEX Segment 8.1. The entire 2.7-kilometer (1.7 mi) toll road is also designated as a part of C-5 Road.

Mindanao Avenue in Barangay Tandang Sora, Quezon City

At the eastern end of NLEX Segment 8.1, C-5 turns southeast and becomes Mindanao Avenue. It is a 10-lane divided carriageway that serves as the main transportation corridor of Barangays Talipapa and Tandang Sora in Quezon City. The 3.5 kilometers (2.2 mi) portion of this 6.7-kilometer (4.2 mi) road from NLEX Segment 8.1 to Congressional Avenue is designated as a portion of C-5.

At the signaled junction with Mindanao Avenue, C-5 turns northeast as the Congressional Avenue, a six-lane divided carriageway that serves as the main east to west transportation corridor of Barangays Bahay Toro, Culiat, Pasong Tamo, and Tandang Sora in Quezon City. It then continues east for 3.9 kilometers (2.4 mi) up to Luzon Avenue.

Luzon Avenue Flyover

At the end of Congressional Avenue Extension, C-5 turns south as Luzon Avenue, a 4-lane divided city road between Barangays Culiat and Matandang Balara in Quezon City, for 850 meters (2,790 ft) up to Commonwealth Avenue. The 6-lane Luzon Avenue Flyover carries C-5 across Commonwealth Avenue to connect it with Tandang Sora Avenue.

Southeast of Commonwealth Avenue, C-5 is known as Tandang Sora Avenue. It runs for 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) from Barangay Matandang Balara, going around the University of the Philippines Diliman campus, up to the junction with Magsaysay Avenue.

The original planned route of C-5 included the entire 9.6-kilometer (6.0 mi) road; however, due to the incapacity of the road to carry a large amount of vehicular traffic, only the 1-kilometer (0.62 mi) portion of the road from the Luzon Avenue Flyover to Magsaysay Avenue was designated as a portion of C-5 Road. Furthermore, Tandang Sora Avenue becomes a six-lane divided carriageway shortly after crossing Capitol Hills Drive, 350 meters (1,150 ft) south of the flyover.

Katipunan Avenue

After crossing Magsaysay Avenue, C-5 turns south and becomes Katipunan Avenue, a ten-lane divided carriageway that serves as the main transportation corridor of Matandang Balara, Pansol, Loyola Heights, and Project 4 in Quezon City. It heads south for 4.8 kilometers (3.0 mi) until its junction with Bonny Serrano Avenue. Shortly before crossing Bonny Serrano Avenue, a 4-lane divided underpass descends from Katipunan Avenue and traverses underneath Col. Bonny Serrano Avenuel and ascends into Libis Flyover, which immediately connects it to E. Rodriguez Jr. Avenue.

C-5 passes through a section of Colonel Bonny Serrano Avenue, a four-lane undivided avenue, as a connecting corridor 500 meters (1,600 ft) from Katipunan Avenue to Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue. The Libis Tunnel and Libis Flyover traverse between the avenue's westbound and eastbound lanes.

Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue

At its junction with Bonny Serrano Avenue and FVR Road at the Libis Tunnel and Libis Flyover, C-5 then turns south as Eulogio Rodriguez Jr. Avenue, a 6.7-kilometer (4.2 mi), 10-lane divided road that serves as the main thoroughfare between Quezon City and Pasig. The road ends in a junction with Pasig Boulevard and continues onto C.P. Garcia Bridge that crosses the Pasig River and eventually becomes Carlos P. Garcia Avenue shortly afterwards. The avenue is named after Eulogio Rodriguez Jr., a former representative and governor of Rizal.[7]

Carlos P. Garcia Avenue southbound in Taguig

Past the C.P. Garcia Bridge over the Pasig River, C-5 becomes Carlos P. Garcia Avenue. It is a 7.5 km (4.7 mi), fourteen-lane divided road that serves as the main thoroughfare from Makati to Taguig. It passes through a small portion of Embo, Makati and continuously passing Taguig, where it bypasses Bonifacio Global City and meets the exit ramps to the C-5 Southlink Expressway and the South Luzon Expressway, before ending at the intersection with East Service Road.

This is not to be mistaken with the legal name of the C-5 route.

Across the South Luzon Expressway, C-5 continues as C-5 Road Extension from West Service Road near Merville Exit of SLEX in Pasay. It also serves as the two frontage roads of C-5 Southlink Expressway's section in Pasay. It traverses south of Ninoy Aquino International Airport and enters Parañaque. In Barangay Santo Niño, C-5 is briefly known as Kaingin Road, passing by warehouses up to Multinational Avenue. It then curves around Amvel City, crosses Dr. A. Santos Avenue and Diego Cera Avenue, and ends at the Manila–Cavite Expressway (CAVITEX) in Las Piñas. The future LRT Line 1 Extension will run along most of the Las Piñas segment of C-5 Road Extension.

On July 23, 2007, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo announced on her State of the Nation Address that C-5 Road will be extended to the north of Metro Manila up to North Luzon Expressway in Valenzuela.[14]

On June 2010, the NLEX–Mindanao Avenue Link (Segment 8.1) in Valenzuela and Congressional Avenue Extension from Tandang Sora to Luzon Avenues in Quezon City opened to all motorists in the North Extension. Carlos P. Garcia Avenue Extension in the South Extension located in Parañaque were also opened. In March 2015, the NLEX–Karuhatan Link (Segment 9) was opened to all motorists. The opening of the Segment 9 from NLEx to MacArthur Highway in Karuhatan, Valenzuela served as a preparation for the Holy Week season.

At present, the new Luzon Avenue Flyover connecting Tandang Sora and Luzon Avenues across Commonwealth Avenue was opened to all motorists. Prior to the opening of the flyover, the Congressional Avenue Extension from Visayas to Luzon Avenue was opened in 2010 to decongest heavy traffic in Visayas–Tandang Sora Avenue Intersection.

In 2012, the Senate of the Philippines investigated the south extension project where it would pass several of Manny Villar's properties, such as Camella. The original extension, called Manila–Cavite Toll Expressway Project (MCTEP), was already approved by the Senate and would have been made as a toll expressway. The project eventually resurrected as C-5 Southlink Expressway.[15]

In 1993, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) conducted a study on the proposed urban expressway system in Metro Manila. The master plan for the planned network meant to have 150 kilometers (93 mi) of expressways included the proposed Central Circumferential Expressway that would follow the old C-5 alignment from Navotas to Parañaque with the total length of about 45.8 kilometers (28.5 mi).[16]

More than two decades later, NLEX Corporation (formerly Manila North Tollways Corporation) and CAVITEX Infrastructure Inc., submitted a proposal for C-5 Expressway, a 19-kilometer (12 mi) fully elevated expressway that would further decongest the existing C-5 and provide a fully controlled-access route between C-5 Southlink Expressway and NLEX Segment 8.2 (C-5 Link).[17] The proposed expressway would utilize portions of the existing C-5's right of way between SLEX and Pasig Boulevard, and run above Marikina River from Pasig Boulevard to Luzon Avenue.

The entire route is located in Valenzuela. The kilometer count, which would be shown here in its approximate values, increments east and west of Harbor Link Interchange as it branches off NLEX Main. 

km	mi	Exit	Name	Destinations	Notes
15.9	9.9		Mindanao Avenue	N128 (Mindanao Avenue) – Quezon City	Eastern end of expressway; link to the future NLEX Segment 8.2
15.39	9.56	Mindanao toll plaza (westbound only)
15.29	9.50	Mindanao toll plaza expansion (westbound only; exclusively for Class 1)
13	8.1		Harbor Link Interchange	AH 26 (E1) – Balintawak, Tarlac	Cloverleaf interchange with collector lanes; kilometer count reverses
14.71	9.14		Parada	Parada, Maysan	Westbound exit only
15.00	9.32		Gen. T. De Leon	Gen. T. de Leon	Eastbound exit only
16.15	10.04	Karuhatan toll plaza (eastbound only)
16.2	10.1		Karuhatan	N1 (MacArthur Highway) – Karuhatan	Diamond interchange; northern end of C-5; continues west as E5 (NLEX Segment 10)
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access        Tolled