Jose P. Laurel Highway

Jose P. Laurel Highway starts at the Santo Tomas Junction, a roundabout with the Maharlika Highway and Governor Carpio Avenue (officially part of Manila South Road via Santo Tomas Poblacion) in Santo Tomas, officially as the Manila–Batangas Diversion Road, which bypasses the Santo Tomas poblacion. It then merges with the old main route, officially known as the Manila–Batangas Road, and passes through the downtowns of Tanauan and Malvar. In Lipa, it bypasses the city proper as Ayala Highway before rejoining the old alignment. The highway continues south through San Jose, where it bypasses its town proper, and Batangas City, where it ends at Lawas Junction, its intersection with Palico–Balayan–Batangas Road (Calicanto Road) and P. Burgos Street (Manila–Batangas Pier Road) in the city proper.^[4]

The Southern Tagalog Arterial Road mostly parallels the highway and crosses each other in Lipa and Batangas City.

Most of the highway traces its roots to the Manila–Batangas Road or Calamba–Batangas Road, which connects Calamba, Laguna, to the Batangas Bay coastline in the then-town of Batangas.^[5] Construction of the road began on October 1, 1900. By 1901, segments from Calamba to Tanauan and from the Batangas Bay to the Batangas poblacion have been completed. On March 20, 1903, the highway was completed when the segments between Tanauan and Batangas were opened.^[6] The road was designated as Highway 19 or Route 19 from Santo Tomas southwards, while the northern segment up to Calamba formed part of Highway 1 or Route 1, which would be eventually integrated to the Manila South Road and eventually the Pan-Philippine Highway (up to Calamba Interchange with South Luzon Expressway).^{[7][8][9][10]}

New alignments bypassing the downtowns of San Jose,^[11][12] Lipa (now known as Ayala Highway), and Santo Tomas (officially known as Manila–Batangas Diversion Road),^[4] respectively, were later built and made part of the present-day highway.^[13]

The road was known as the Sto. Tomas–Batangas City–Nasugbu Road until June 10, 1976, when it was renamed President Laurel Highway by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 743. While legally covering the entire corridor up to Nasugbu at the west,^[14] the name is currently applied to the eastern stretch between Santo Tomas and Batangas City. The western portion, officially designated as the Palico–Balayan–Batangas Road and Tagaytay–Nasugbu Road, respectively, were never formally renamed, although the latter is known locally as J.P. Laurel Street through the Nasugbu town proper.^[4]

Summarize Fact Check

The entire route is located in Batangas. Intersections are numbered by kilometer posts, with Rizal Park in Manila designated as kilometer zero. 

Santo Tomas, Batangas

• Santo Tomas Junction
• Santo Tomas General Hospital

Tanauan, Batangas

• San Juan Bridge (San Juan River)
• First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities

Malvar, Batangas

• Malvar Municipal Hall
• Malvar Church

Lipa, Batangas

• Lipa City Hall
• SM CIty Lipa
• Robinsons Lipa
• De La Salle Lipa
• Lipa Town Center
• Basilio Fernando Air Base

San Jose, Batangas

• Calansayan Bridge

Batangas City

• Balagtas Bridge
• SM Hypermarket Batangas
• Laurel Park