The carries the

Central Circular Route The , signed as Route C2, is one of the routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the central part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The route is a circumferential highway running through the outer wards of Tokyo. The route is the middle of fou ...

(C2) of 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, from the Takamatsu on-ramp in

Toshima is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is one of the eight central wards of the Tokyo Metropolitan area. Located in the northern area of Tokyo, Toshima is bordered by the wards of Nerima, Itabashi, and Kita in the north and Nakano, Shinjuku, a ...

to near the

Ōi Junction The is a junction that connects the Bayshore Route, Haneda Route, and Central Circular Route of the Shuto Expressway in Yashio, Shinagawa, Tokyo. Overview Until November 19, 2013, the Ōi Junction was a one-way junction from both directions on ...

Shinagawa is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The Ward refers to itself as Shinagawa City in English. The Ward is home to ten embassies. , the Ward had an estimated population of 380,293 and a population density of 16,510 persons per km2. The total are ...

. It has a length of . Lying below the surface, about 70 percent of the tunnel was constructed by the

tunnelling shield A tunnelling shield is a protective structure used during the excavation of large, man-made tunnels. When excavating through ground that is soft, liquid, or otherwise unstable, there is a potential health and safety hazard to workers and the proj ...

method. The roadway consists of two lanes in each direction. Nearly all of the tunnel lies beneath Yamate Dori. On completion the Yamate Tunnel surpassed the Kan'etsu Tunnel on the

Kan-Etsu Expressway The is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company. Naming is the ''kanji'' acronym of and the old comprising modern-day Niigata Prefecture. Officially, the Kan-Etsu consists of two routes. Both ...

, to become the longest road tunnel in Japan and the second longest road tunnel in the world. Most of the tunnel follows the route of Yamate Street (Tokyo Metropolitan Route 317).

History

Plans for an expressway on the route were first drawn up around 1970, initially in the form of an elevated expressway over the

Meguro River The is a river which flows through Tokyo, Japan. Its tributaries include the Kitazawa River and the Karasuyama River. The river flows into Tokyo Bay near the Tennōzu Isle Station. The river is in length and passes through Setagaya, Meguro an ...

between Shibuya and Oimachi. The elevated expressway plan was shelved shortly thereafter, following concerns about environmental issues and local resident protests, but re-emerged in the 1990s in the form of a tunnel plan. The final plan for the southern portion of the tunnel, approved in 2004, followed Yamate Street and the Meguro River, in order to minimize tunneling under private property. Construction on the Yamate Tunnel began in 1992. The Takamatsu–Nishi Shinjuku segment opened on 22 December 2007. On the same date, an above-ground segment linking the tunnel to the Kumanochō Interchange in

Itabashi is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it calls itself Itabashi City. Itabashi has sister-city relations with Burlington, Ontario, in Canada; Shijingshan District of Beijing in the People's Republic of China; and ...

and Toshima also opened. The section between Nishi Shinjuku and Ohashi opened on 28 March 2010. The last section linking Ohashi to the

Bayshore Route The signed as Route B, is one of the routes of the tolled Shuto Expressway system in the Greater Tokyo Area. The Bayshore Route is a stretch of toll highway that runs from the Kanazawa ward of Yokohama in the west, northeast to the city of ...

opened on 7 March 2015.

Facilities

The tunnel has many operational and safety facilities. Among them are emergency telephones and cameras at intervals. Fire-safety equipment includes infrared sensors, fire extinguishers, foam sprayers, and pushbutton alarms. Emergency exits leading to a separate emergency path are located no more than apart. Stairways lead up to Yamate Street. A duct running parallel to the roadway supplies fresh air and removes exhaust. Dust-collection systems are designed to remove 80 percent of particulates from the air. The Ohashi Junction in

Meguro is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is Meguro City. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947. Meguro is predominantly residential in character, but is also home to light industry, corporate ...

, connecting the tunnel to the

Shibuya Route The , signed as Route 3 of the Shuto Expressway system and AH1 as a part of that route of the Asian Highway Network, is one of the radial routes of the tolled Shuto Expressway system in the Tokyo area. The elevated expressway was planned as a ...

, required construction of stacked elliptical ramps in circumference and in diameter, similar in size to the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football stadiu ...

track. For soundproofing reasons, the junction was encased in over of concrete. The structure was used as the centerpiece of an urban planning project that includes the

Meguro Sky Garden is a linear roof garden park in Ōhashi, Meguro, Tokyo, Japan, constructed on a sloping roof rising from 15 to 35 meters above street level. The garden serves to cover the intersection of two major expressways; the elevated Route 3 (Shuto Expres ...

park and several high-rise condominium towers.

Ramps and junctions

*Takamatsu Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, near Kanamecho Station *Nishi-ikebukuro Exit (southbound only) – Yamate Street, near

Shiinamachi Station is a railway station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line in Toshima, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Seibu Railway. Lines Shiinamachi Station is served by the Seibu Ikebukuro Line from in Tokyo to in Saitama Prefecture, and is ...

*Nakano-Chojabashi Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, south of Nakano-sakaue Station) *Nishi-Shinjuku Junction (interchange with westbound Route 4) – near

Hatsudai Station is a railway station on the Keio New Line in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Keio Corporation. Station layout History Hatsudai Station opened on 11 June 1914. Surrounding area Hatsudai is the closest station ...

*Hatsudai-minami Exit (southbound only) – Yamate Street, north of

Yoyogi-Hachiman Station is a railway station on the Odakyu Odawara Line in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan, operated by the private railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway. Station layout Originally, the station had two side platforms serving two tracks. However, the stati ...

*Tomigaya Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, south of Yoyogi-Hachiman Station *Ōhashi Junction (interchange with Route 3) – southwest of

Shibuya Station is a railway station in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan, operated jointly by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Keio Corporation, Tokyu Corporation, and Tokyo Metro. With 2.4 million passengers on an average weekday in 2004, it is the fourth-busiest c ...

*Gotanda Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, north of Fudomae Station

Other underground viaducts

The Yamate Tunnel passes above the

Yūrakuchō is a business district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, situated in between the Ginza and Hibiya Park, southeast of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. The district takes its name from Oda Nagamasu (1547–1622), who was also known as Yūraku (有楽). Oda Nagam ...

and Ōedo subway lines. It crosses below the Tōzai and

Marunouchi Marunouchi () is a commercial district of Tokyo located in Chiyoda between Tokyo Station and the Imperial Palace. The name, meaning "inside the circle", derives from its location within the palace's outer moat. It is also Tokyo's financial di ...

subway lines, as well as the

Keiō was a after '' Genji'' and before '' Meiji''. The period spanned the years from May 1865 to October 1868. The reigning emperors were and . Change of era * May 1, 1865 (''Genji 2/Keiō 1, 7th day of the 4th month'') : The new era name of ''K ...

and

Keiō New Line The is a 3.6 km link which connects Keio Corporation's Keiō Line The is a 37.9-km railway line in western Tokyo, Japan, owned by the private railway operator Keiō Corporation. It connects Shinjuku, Tokyo, with the suburban city of ...

s and the

Tōkyū Den-en-toshi Line The is a major commuter line operated by the private railway operator Tokyu Corporation and connecting south-western suburbs of Tokyo and neighbouring Kanagawa Prefecture, with its western terminus of , to a major railway junction of western d ...

. Additionally, the tunnel parallels the Ōedo Line along a segment between Nakai and Nishi Shinjuku Gochome Stations. Nakai and Nakano Sakaue Stations, lying beneath the Yamate Tunnel, have escalators that pass between Yamate's two tunnels.

History

Facilities

Ramps and junctions

Other underground viaducts

Further reading

References

See also