The , abbreviated , 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 Japan. 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 ...

. It is signed E6 under the

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism The , abbreviated MLIT, is a ministry of the Japanese government.国土交通省設置法 ...

's "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."

Route description

The expressway is an important route connecting the greater

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

area with

Mito Mito may refer to: Places *Mito, Ibaraki, capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan *Mito, Aichi, a Japanese town *Mito, Shimane, a Japanese town * Mitō, Yamaguchi, a Japanese town * Mito District, a district in the province of Concepción, Per ...

, the capital of

Ibaraki Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Ibaraki Prefecture has a population of 2,871,199 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Ibaraki Prefecture borders Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Tochigi Prefecture ...

. Beyond Mito, the expressway follows a northerly route along the coast 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 contin ...

to the city of Iwaki in Fukushima Prefecture. Continuing north along the coast, the expressway enters the greater Sendai area. The expressway supplements 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 no ...

as an access route between Tokyo and 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 reta ...

. For most of its length the expressway parallels National Route 6 and the

Jōban Line The Jōban Line ( ja, 常磐線, ) is a railway line in Japan operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). The line officially begins at Nippori Station in Arakawa, Tokyo before the line officially ends at Iwanuma Station in Iwanuma, ...

of East Japan Railway Company. The expressway gets within about six kilometers from the damaged

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant The is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a site in the towns of Ōkuma and Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The plant suffered major damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011. The ...

. On a of the expressway opened on 1 March 2015, signs update drivers about what the radiation level is in the impacted area.

Naming

Jōban 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 two characters. Each character represents a former province of Japan that is passed through by the route: representing present-day

and representing the eastern portion of present-day Fukushima Prefecture The expressway carries the Jōban Expressway name from the origin at Misato Junction to Watari Interchange. From Watari Interchange to the expected terminus at Tomiya-kita Interchange, the Jōban Expressway name is currently an official designation only. The section from Watari Interchange to Sendaikō-kita Interchange is the Sendai-Tōbu Road, the section from Sendaikō-kita Interchange to

Rifu Junction is a towns of Japan, town located in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 36,014, and a population density of 800 persons per km2 in 13,568 households. The total area of the town is . Rifu is known for its nashi pe ...

is the

Sanriku Expressway The is an incomplete expressway that exists in multiple segments in Miyagi Prefecture and Iwate Prefecture, Japan. The expressway connects Sendai, the capital and largest city in Miyagi Prefecture, to Miyako in Iwate Prefecture. It follows the c ...

(Senen Road), and the section from Rifu Junction to the terminus is the

Sendai-Hokubu Road The is a toll road in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. It is owned and operated by the East Nippon Expressway Company (NEXCO East Japan). Along with the Sanriku Expressway, Sendai-Tōbu Road, Sendai-Nanbu Road, and Tōhoku Expressway it forms a ring roa ...

. It is unknown if the naming of these sections will be changed upon completion of the Jōban Expressway. The expressway has a speed limit of 70 km/h between Iwaki-chūō Interchange and its northern terminus at Watari, a limit of 80 km/h between its southern terminus and Kashiwa Interchange and between Hitachiminami-Ōta and Iwaki-chūō interchanges, and a speed limit of 100 km/h on the remainder of the expressway.

History

The first section of the expressway was opened in 1981. The section from Jōban-Tomioka Interchange to Watari Interchange is under construction, and extensions and upgrades to the existing Sendai road network are also planned.

Incidents and closures

During the 13 February 2021 Fukushima earthquake, landslides buried parts of the expressway, and embankments along it collapsed; however, no vehicles were trapped inside the debris. A section of the expressway at another location was uplifted. The damages facilitated the closure of the expressway between Shinchi and Sōma interchanges in Fukushima Prefecture. In response, the

deployed heavy equipment to remove boulders and clear up debris along the expressway. By 17 February, the blockages along the expressway were cleared allowing traffic to resume along the route. Fences were also erected along the stricken sections of the expressway to prevent further rockslides.

List of junctions and features

* PA -

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 ...

, SA -

service area Service area may refer to: * Rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary r ...

, TB -

toll gate Toll Gate or Tollgate may refer to: * Toll gate, a barrier across a toll road or toll bridge that is lifted when the toll is paid Entertainment * "Tollgate" (Hale single) * ''The Toll-Gate'', a 1954 novel by Georgette Heyer * ''The Toll Gate'', ...

References

External links

East Nippon Expressway Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joban Expressway Expressways in Japan Roads in Chiba Prefecture Roads in Fukushima Prefecture Roads in Ibaraki Prefecture Roads in Miyagi Prefecture Roads in Saitama Prefecture 1981 establishments in Japan