[J] Japan | road infrastructure • Expressways

castermaild55 · Apr 14, 2012

new Tomei Expressway open today

162km(254km in 2020)

shin-Tomei and Tomei expressway

Shin-tomei walking at Shimizu

ChrisZwolle · Apr 14, 2012

According to my records, 162 kilometers is the biggest single expressway opening in the history of Japan.

castermaild55 · May 1, 2012

LegendofZelda1996 · May 2, 2012

I believe this expressway is called the Daini Keihan Road (第二京阪道路).

Is it just me or does it seem like the maximum amount of lanes in a expressway in Japan is around 6 lanes (3 lanes per side)?

Blackraven · May 2, 2012

LegendofZelda1996 said:
I believe this expressway is called the Daini Keihan Road (第二京阪道路).

Is it just me or does it seem like the maximum amount of lanes in a expressway in Japan is around 6 lanes (3 lanes per side)?

Hehe seems so. Roads that have 3 lanes per direction (or more) are quite rare over there.

Probably one major exception is Wangan Line (首都高速道路湾岸線) which can have 4 or 5 lanes per direction in some areas (like the ones near Daiba)

starrwulfe · May 7, 2012

LegendofZelda1996 said:
I believe this expressway is called the Daini Keihan Road (第二京阪道路).

Wow. I remember when this was being built back around 2001-2002. I used travel National Route 1 (which runs directly below) between Higashi-Osaka and Kyoto all the time. Sometimes it would take 3 hours or more to make that trip with all the bad traffic.

LegendofZelda1996 · May 10, 2012

starrwulfe said:
Wow. I remember when this was being built back around 2001-2002. I used travel National Route 1 (which runs directly below) between Higashi-Osaka and Kyoto all the time. Sometimes it would take 3 hours or more to make that trip with all the bad traffic.

Are you referring to this?

I think this is an intersection between the Japan National Route 1 (国道1号) and the Japan National Route 171 (国道171号). But I could be wrong.

Nima-Farid · May 13, 2012

ChrisZwolle said:
Urban expressway systems have numbered routes, like the Shuto system of Tokyo, Hanshin system of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Nagoya system and Fukuoka and Kitakyushu systems.

Here in Iran it is the opposite. National Roads and Freeways are numbered but urban expressways are named. :nuts:

LegendofZelda1996 · May 14, 2012

I think this is the Komatsugawa Route (首都高速7号小松川線移動：案内, 検索) in the Shuto Expressway (首都高速道路) in Tōkyō.

Nexis · May 18, 2012

Look at this Japanese SPUI ive found..

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.677268,141.267647&spn=0.004682,0.009645&t=h&z=17

CNGL · May 18, 2012

Even it is avalaible to see in Street View.

bogdymol · May 18, 2012

:eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

LegendofZelda1996 · May 23, 2012

Here are pictures of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway (神戸淡路鳴門自動車道) in the Akashi-Kaikyō Bridge (明石海峡大橋).

http://mallorea.student.utwente.nl/~jorg/Photos/Japan/Post41/Shikoku/IMG_6914.JPG

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Akashi_Kaikyō_Bridge_明石海峡大橋_4034382.JPG

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/AkashiOhashiRoad1.jpg

Angelos · May 23, 2012

bogdymol said:
:eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

:eek2::eek2::eek2::eek2::eek2::eek2::eek2:

snowdog · May 23, 2012

I like Japanese roads in a way they look very impressive and modern, especially the interchanges, but a few things I also don't like:

1: There are no deceleration lanes from what I can see, you can so easily miss an exit if you don't plan ahead. Plus very prone to jams if an exit or sliproad jams up, the main road will suffer too.
2: The interglots are very short, also very bad for heavy traffic weaving in...
3: Tokyo's expressways are just 2x2, how are they not jammed up 24/7 in such a big city ?? 2x2 proves not to be enough in rural areas here for highways, let alone a metropolitan area.
4: Emergency lanes/ hard shoulders ? They are either very narrow thus useless to divert traffic on in case of road works or so, dangerous if you break down on them... Or they do not exist!

The road networks looks like it has very low redundancy for heavy traffic, accidents or other incidents.

verreme · May 23, 2012

Maybe space is so precious that they can't afford emergency lanes or proper deceleration lanes. I guess that's also why they systematically build elevated highways.

ChrisZwolle · May 23, 2012

Japanese cars don't break down

Nexis · May 23, 2012

Down the Bayshore and though the Aqualine....

just_a_guy · May 23, 2012

snowdog said:
3: Tokyo's expressways are just 2x2, how are they not jammed up 24/7 in such a big city ?? 2x2 proves not to be enough in rural areas here for highways, let alone a metropolitan area.

Awesome public transportation does the job. Not too many people drive in Tokyo.

ChrisZwolle · May 23, 2012

Most of the Shuto Expressway network have very high volumes, 100.000+ vehicles per day on 2x2 is rather common. The lack of trucks on some of these routes may relieve some of the congestion though. Plus the network is quite dense. Of the Shuto network, only the Bayshore Route has a continuous 2x3 setup. Other non-Shuto Expressways in Greater Tokyo tend to have 2x3 lanes as well.

Outside Tokyo, most expressways for example in Osaka or Hiroshima run on top of 4 - 8 lane arterial roads, so corridor capacity is not bad.

The majority of Japanese passenger transport is by car, even though this is the lowest in all developed countries (apart from some city-states like Hong Kong or Singapore).

[J] Japan | road infrastructure • Expressways

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