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 ...

Mie Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Mie Prefecture has a population of 1,781,948 () and has a geographic area of . Mie Prefecture is bordered by Gifu Prefecture to the north, Shiga Prefecture and Kyoto Prefecture to ...

and

Nara Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Nara Prefecture has a population of 1,321,805 and has a geographic area of . Nara Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Osaka Prefecture to the northwest, Wakayama P ...

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 ...

. The expressway is also known as the Meihan National Highway that is a literal translation of its Japanese name. Together with the

Nishi-Meihan Expressway is a national expressway in the Kinki region of Japan. It is owned and operated by West Nippon Expressway Company. Naming Meihan is a kanji acronym of two characters. The first character represents Nagoya (名古屋) and the second character r ...

and

Higashi-Meihan Expressway The is a four lane national expressway in the Tōkai region of Japan. It is owned and operated by Central Nippon Expressway Company. Naming Meihan is a kanji acronym of two characters. The first character represents Nagoya (名古屋) and the se ...

, it is the central portion of a corridor linking the greater Nagoya and Osaka areas. It is owned and operated by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and is signed as an auxiliary route of National Route 25 as well as E25 under their "Expressway Numbering System."

Naming

''Meihan'' is a Sino-Japanese pronunciation of two-character kanji acronym for Nagoya and Osaka (名阪). The first character of three-character kanji that represents Nagoya (名古屋) is pronounced as ''mei'', whereas the second character of two-character kanji that represents Osaka (大阪) is pronounced as ''han''.

History

Construction on the Meihan Expressway began in March 1962, with an intended construction period of only one thousand days. The rapid construction of expressways in Japan at the time was spearheaded by Minister of Construction Ichirō Kōno in preparation for the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

in Tokyo. It was opened as a two-lane expressway in December 1965.

Interchange list

References

{{Expressways of Japan Expressways in Japan Roads in Nara Prefecture Roads in Mie Prefecture