The signed as Route B, is one of the routes of the
tolled Shuto Expressway
is a network of toll expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the .
Most routes are grade-separated (elevated roads or tunnels) and central routes have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that requi ...
system in the
Greater Tokyo Area
The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...
. The Bayshore Route is a stretch of toll highway that runs from the
Kanazawa ward of
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
in the west, northeast to the city of
Ichikawa in
Chiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...
in the east. Opened in phases beginning in 1976 and ending in 2001, it is an important route that runs between the
artificial islands
An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those tha ...
lining the western shore of
Tokyo Bay
is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan, and spans the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. The Tokyo Bay region is both the most populous a ...
by way of bridges and sub-sea tunnels that bypass central Tokyo.
Route description
![Light graffiti (7633543178)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Light_graffiti_%287633543178%29.jpg)
The Bayshore Route is a
tolled expressway in the
Shuto Expressway
is a network of toll expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the .
Most routes are grade-separated (elevated roads or tunnels) and central routes have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that requi ...
network of the
Greater Tokyo Area
The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...
and the only route of the network that serves
Chiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...
. It is called Route B after its name in English, Bayshore. The road was constructed by the Metropolitan Expressway Company as a motorway to add capacity to the existing
National Route 357
The following highways are numbered 357:
Canada
* Manitoba Provincial Road 357
* Nova Scotia Route 357
* Prince Edward Island Route 357
* Saskatchewan Highway 357
Japan
* Japan National Route 357
National Route 357 is a national highway of ...
. It now runs parallel to the older road, which is used by more local traffic.
For administrative purposes, the expressway is also designated on prefecture-level as Route 294 by Chiba Prefecture,
Kanagawa Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...
and
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 ...
.
The western terminus of the Bayshore Route lies at the eastern end of a spur route of the
Yokohama–Yokosuka Road in the
Kanazawa ward of
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...
. The Bayshore Route runs from Yokohama across the
Yokohama Bay
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
and
Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge
The Tsurumi Tsubasa Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge located at the western side of Yokohama Bay and is part of an expressway across the Port of Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture in Japan. The bridge has a main span of and two side spans of .
See a ...
s, through the Kawasaki Subsea, the Tama Subriver,
Haneda Airport
, officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...
North, and Tokyo Bay Subsea Tunnels, which connects it to the popular tourist spot of
Odaiba
today is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, Japan, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo. Odaiba was initially built in this area for defensive purposes in the 1850s. Reclaimed land offshore Shinagawa was dramatically expanded durin ...
, and then on to
Urayasu
260px, old Urayasu
is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 170,533 in 81,136 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Urayasu is best known as the home of the Tokyo ...
(near
Tokyo Disneyland
(local nickname ''TDL'') is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, near Tokyo. Its main gate is directly adjacent to both Maihama Station and Tokyo Disneyland Station. It was the first Disney park to be ...
) in
Chiba Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...
. The expressway facilitates direct road travel between Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures as well as
Narita and
Haneda
, officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...
Airports. It also serves to link the ends of all of Tokyo's ring roads, aside from the
Inner Circular Route
The , signed as Route C1, is one of the routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the central part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The route is a complete loop around the central Tokyo wards of Chiyoda, Chūō, and Minato, with a total length ...
. As a result, it is used as a bypass for the heavily congested city center of Tokyo. Owing to the nature of the route from Kanagawa passing through Tokyo to Chiba, the direction of travel is represented in Japanese by "eastbound/westbound" rather than the Japanese norm of "up/down" direction that only functions relative to the direction one is traveling and Tokyo. The eastern terminus of the Bayshore Route connects to the southern terminus of the
Higashi-Kantō Expressway
The (lit. East Kantō Expressway) is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company.
Overview
Officially the expressway is referred to as the Higashi-Kantō Expressway Mito Route.
The expresswa ...
and the eastern end of the
Tokyo Gaikan Expressway
The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company.
Overview
The name Gaikan refers to the route's status as an outer ring road (beltway) for Tokyo. The expressway is also referred to simply as Ga ...
at Kōya Junction.
Traffic
The
(MLIT), conducts surveys on the Japan's national routes and expressways every five years to measure their
average daily traffic
Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...
. In 2015, the most utilized point along the expressway was in the
Kōtō ward of Tokyo between Tatsumi Junction and Shinkiba, where a daily average of 163,404 vehicles traveled on the Bayshore Route. The least busy section of the expressway was in Yokohama between its western terminus and the interchange at Sugita, there it carried an average of only 27,268 vehicles. Generally, the expressway is more heavily used between Haneda Airport and Chiba Prefecture. From Haneda to Yokohama, traffic levels slowly drop, then decline sharply beyond Honmoku Junction.
Cargo from
Narita International Airport
Narita International Airport ( ja, 成田国際空港, Narita Kokusai Kūkō) , also known as Tokyo-Narita, formerly and originally known as , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Haneda Airport ...
in Chiba destined for southern areas travels on large trucks on the Bayshore Route, though the opening of
Chubu International Airport
is an international airport on an artificial island in Ise Bay, Tokoname City in Aichi Prefecture, south of Nagoya in central Japan.
Centrair is classified as a first class airport and is the main international gateway for the Chubu ("ce ...
helped ease heavy truck congestion on the expressway. It is notable as Tokyo's first offshore highway,
providing sightseers with urban views of
Minato Mirai 21
, often known as simply Minato Mirai and abbreviated as MM, is the central business district of Yokohama, Japan. Initially developed in the 1980s, Minato Mirai 21 was designed as a large master-planned development and new urban center planned to co ...
, Odaiba, the
Rainbow Bridge, downtown Yokohama, and the
Yokohama Bay Bridge
The is an cable stayed bridge in Yokohama, Japan. Opened September 27, 1989, it crosses Tokyo Bay with a span of 460 metres (1,510 feet). The toll is ¥600. The bridge is part of the Bayshore Route of the Shuto Expressway
is a network o ...
. Although the expressway is heavily congested during the day, it is frequented by
street racers during late night hours.
From the late 1980s all the way to 1999 there was a presence on the Bayshore Route with street racers racing along the expressway's long, straight stretches; however, due to increased police presence the street racing scene has since dwindled.
History
![Shinonome JCT 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Shinonome_JCT_2.JPG)
The first section of the Bayshore Route was completed in August 1976 between Ōi and Rinkai-fukutoshin. It was expanded in stages with the earlier phases of construction generally taking place in Tokyo and Chiba. The first section of the expressway to open in Kanagawa Prefecture, where later phases of the expressway's construction were completed, opened in January 1989. The Bayshore Route was selected in April 2000 to be one of two trial routes of the Shuto Expressway network for the implementation of
electronic toll collection (ETC). The ETC system was popular among the route's drivers and was implemented throughout the network in December 2003. The final link in the expressway's route was opened in October 2001 when the expressway was completed between the interchanges at Sugita and Sankeien.
There have been several developments on the Bayshore Route since its completion in 2001. Between 2004 and 2008, the expressway was widened to four lanes in each direction in a series of projects in the wards of Minato and Kōtō. The first of these widening projects was completed in 2004 on the westbound side of the expressway between Shinkiba and Tatsumi Junction on 17 September 2004. The final stage of the project was completed in March 2008 with the widening of the eastbound section of the Bayshore Route between Tatsumi and Ariake Junction. Part of this expansion project also made room for the addition of Shinonome Junction where the Bayshore Route meets the southern terminus of the
Harumi Route. The junction was opened on 11 February 2009.
On 4 March 2017, the interchange at Minami-honmoku futō in Yokohama was completed, providing a direct connection from the Bayshore Route to Honmoku Wharf by a viaduct. Kōya Junction was expanded on 2 June 2018 to add the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway to the highways served by the terminal junction of the Bayshore Route.
Junction list
In popular culture
*
Wangan Midnight
is a Japanese racing manga series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. It was first serialized in Shogakukan's ''Big Comic Spirits'' in 1990, but was later serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1992 to 2008. The ...
, a
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
and
anime
is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
series based on street racing on the Wangan.
*
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune
is a Japanese racing manga series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. It was first serialized in Shogakukan's ''Big Comic Spirits'' in 1990, but was later serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1992 to 2008. The ...
, an arcade racing game taking place on the Wangan.
*
Tokyo Xtreme Racer
''Tokyo Xtreme Racer'' is an arcade racing video game series created by Genki and inspired by street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Its first installment, ''Shutokō Battle '94: Drift King'', released in 1994 for the Super Famicom. In 20 ...
, known in Japan as Shutokō Battle (首都高, abbreviation for "Shuto Expressway"), a
Genki
Genki may refer to:
*Genki (company), a Japanese video game company
*Genki (era), a Japanese era name
*Genki (given name)
Genki (written: 元気, 元喜, 元基, 元規, 源気 or 源基) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with th ...
game based on Wangan racing
See also
*
Shuto Kosoku Trial, a series of six movies about Wangan racing that have been banned from Japan.
*
*
References
External links
*
{{Shuto Expressway
Shuto Expressway
1976 establishments in Japan
Roads in Chiba Prefecture
Roads in Kanagawa Prefecture
Roads in Tokyo