The is a national

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

in the

Tōhoku region The , Northeast region, or consists of the northeastern portion of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. This traditional region consists of six prefectures (''ken''): Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, and Yamagata. Tōhoku retains a ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. It is owned and operated by

East Nippon Expressway Company The , abbreviated as , is one of the main operators of expressways and toll roads in Japan. It is headquartered in Kasumigaseki, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company was established on October 1, 2005 as a result of the privatization of Japan Highway Pub ...

Naming

The name is a

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

consisting of characters found in the former names of the provinces linked by the expressway. consists of the eastern part of present-day

Fukushima Prefecture Fukushima Prefecture (; ja, 福島県, Fukushima-ken, ) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Fukushima Prefecture has a population of 1,810,286 () and has a geographic area of . Fukushima Prefecture borders Miya ...

, and consists of present-day

Niigata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the List of Japanese prefectures by area, fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area ...

. Officially the expressway is referred to as the Tōhoku-Ōdan Expressway Iwaki Niigata Route.

Overview

The route of the expressway connects the coastlines of the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

and the

Japan Sea The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it h ...

by traversing the mountainous interior of the Tōhoku region. The expressway commences at a junction with the

Jōban Expressway The , abbreviated , is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company. It is signed E6 under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway N ...

in Iwaki, Fukushima and follows a northwesterly course to the city of

Kōriyama is a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 322,996 people in 141760 households, and a population density of 430 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Kōriyama is designated as a core city and ...

, where it intersects with the

Tōhoku Expressway The is a south-north national expressway, and the longest expressway in Japan at . Its southern terminus is in Kawaguchi, Saitama in the Greater Tokyo Area, at the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway and Kawaguchi Route near Araijuku Station, and its northe ...

. The expressway continues its course through the historic

Aizu is the westernmost of the three regions of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, the other two regions being Nakadōri in the central area of the prefecture and Hamadōri in the east. As of October 1, 2010, it had a population of 291,838. The princip ...

region, with

Mount Bandai is a stratovolcano located in Inawashiro-town, Bandai-town, and Kitashiobara village, in Yama-Gun, Fukushima prefecture. It is an active stratovolcano located to the north of Lake Inawashiro. Mount Bandai, including the Bandai heights, belong ...

viewable to the north and

Lake Inawashiro is the fourth-largest lake in Japan, located in central Fukushima Prefecture, south of Mount Bandai. It is also known as the . The lake is located within the borders of Bandai-Asahi National Park. It is a surface area of , circumference of , dept ...

viewable to the south. The route then enters

and eventually terminates at a junction in

Niigata City may refer to: * Niigata Prefecture, Japan **Niigata (city), the capital of the prefecture * Albirex Niigata, the city's professional football club * Niigata Transys, a Japanese railway vehicle manufacturer * Niigata Stadium, an athletic stadium in ...

with the

Hokuriku Expressway The , (abbreviated as , is a 4-laned national expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company and Central Nippon Expressway Company. Overview The first section was opened in 1972 by Japan Highway Public Corpo ...

and

Nihonkai-Tōhoku Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company. Naming The course of the expressway takes it alongside the coastline of the Sea of Japan (Nihonkai) in the Tōhoku region of Japan. The Nihonka ...

. The route parallels the

East Ban'etsu Line The is a railway line in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It connects Iwaki Station (Fukushima), Iwaki Station in Iwaki, Fukushima, Iwaki and Kōriyama Station (Fukushima), Kōriyama Station in Kōri ...

and West Ban'etsu Line of

East Japan Railway Company The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

and National Route 49 for much of its length. The first section of the expressway was opened to traffic in 1990 and the entire route was completed in 1997. The route was originally 2 lanes only, one in each direction. However expansion to two lanes in each direction has proceeded gradually over the years. Expansion of the eastern half (between Iwaki Junction and Kōriyama Junction) was completed in 2009. Using the Ban-etsu and

to travel between the Tōhoku and

Kinki The or the , lies in the southern-central region of Japan's main island Honshū. The region includes the prefectures of Nara, Wakayama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo and Shiga, often also Mie, sometimes Fukui, Tokushima and Tottori. The metropolitan ...

regions is shorter and cheaper than using expressways that traverse a route via the greater

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

urban area. All service areas along the route feature restaurants and shops (there are also shops at Gobyakugawa Parking Area). There are 24-hour gas stations at Abukumakōgen Service Area and Bandaisan Service Area. There is a 24-hour

FamilyMart is a Japanese convenience store franchise chain. It is Japan's second largest convenience store chain, behind 7-Eleven. There are now 24,574 stores worldwide in Japan, Taiwan, China, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Its ...

convenience store at Aganogawa Service Area (Niigata-bound only). Saiso Parking Area and Miharu Parking Area feature vending machines and toilets, while all other

parking area A parking lot (American English) or car park (British English), also known as a car lot, is a cleared area intended for parking vehicles. The term usually refers to an area dedicated only for parking, with a durable or semi-durable surface ...

s have only toilets.

List of interchanges and features

* IC - interchange, SIC -

smart interchange A is a feature of Japanese expressways that provides exclusive access to and from the expressway for vehicles equipped with electronic toll collection (ETC). The feature increases accessibility to and from the expressway in less-populated areas ...

, JCT -

junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

, SA - service area, PA -

, BS -

bus stop A bus stop is a place where buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelters, seating, and possibly electronic passenger ...

, TN -

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

, BR -

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

References

External links

East Nippon Expressway Company

Iwaki JCT {{coord, 37.873871, 139.039028, format=dms, display=inline, type:railwaystation_region:JP_scale:10000 Niigata-Chūō IC Expressways in Japan Roads in Fukushima Prefecture Roads in Niigata Prefecture