San Juanico Strait in the context of HVDC Leyte–Luzon

⭐ Core Definition: San Juanico Strait

San Juanico Strait (Waray: Sulang han San Juanico) is a narrow strait in the Eastern Visayan region in the Philippines. It separates the islands of Samar and Leyte and connects Carigara Bay (Samar Sea) with the San Pedro Bay (Leyte Gulf). It is about 38 kilometres (24 mi) long. At its narrowest point, the strait is only 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) wide.

The strait is crossed by the San Juanico Bridge. The HVDC Leyte–Luzon power line also crosses the strait through an overhead line at 11°23′36″N 124°59′04″E / 11.39333°N 124.98444°E / 11.39333; 124.98444, using a tower on an uninhabited island in the strait. The Tacloban City harbor, the main port of the Eastern Visayas, is on Cancabato Bay at the southern entrance of the strait.

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The Samar Sea is a small sea within the Philippine archipelago, situated between the Bicol Region of Luzon and the Eastern Visayas.

It is bordered by the islands of Samar to the east, Leyte to the south, Masbate to the west, and Luzon to the north. The sea is connected to the Philippine Sea to the north via San Bernardino Strait, to Leyte Gulf to the southeast via San Juanico Strait, to the Visayan Sea to the southwest, and to the Sibuyan Sea to the northwest via Masbate Pass and Ticao Pass. It contains Biliran Island, the islands of Almagro, Maripipi, Sto. Nino, Daram, and Tagapul-an.

View the full Wikipedia page for Samar Sea

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The San Juanico Bridge (Filipino: Tulay ng San Juanico; Waray: Tulay han San Juanico) is part of the Pan-Philippine Highway and stretches from Samar to Leyte across the San Juanico Strait in the Philippines. It is located by the Municipality of Santa Rita, Samar, and the City of Tacloban. Its longest length is a steel girder viaduct built on reinforced concrete piers, and its main span is of an arch-shaped truss design. Constructed during the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos through Japanese Official Development Assistance loans, it has a total length of 2.16 kilometers (1.34 mi)—the third longest bridge spanning a body of seawater in the Philippines after the Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway and Panguil Bay Bridge. It was also the longest bridge in the Philippines upon its opening in 1973, surpassed in 1976 by Candaba Viaduct of North Luzon Expressway (NLEX), another bridge that connects from one province to another, connecting the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan.

The bridge has helped bolster economic activity in Samar and Leyte and has become an iconic tourist attraction.

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