Kan-Etsu Expressway

Kan-Etsu Expressway
関越自動車道
Route information
Length:	245.8 mi[1] (395.6 km)
Major junctions
From:	Nerima Interchange in Nerima, Tokyo Tokyo Metropolitan Route 24
To:	Nagaoka Junction in Nagaoka, Niigata Hokuriku Expressway
Location
Major cities:	Kawagoe, Fujioka, Takasaki, Maebashi, Ojiya
Highway system
National highways of Japan Expressways of Japan

The Kan-Etsu Expressway (関越自動車道 Kan'etsu Jidōsha-dō) is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and managed by East Nippon Expressway Company.

Naming

Kan-Etsu (関越) is the kanji acronym of Kantō (関東) and the old Echigo Province (越後国) comprising modern-day Niigata Prefecture.

Officially, the Kan-Etsu consists of two routes. Both begin in Tokyo and end in Niigata Prefecture. The Kan-Etsu Expressway Niigata Route consists of the entire Kan-Etsu Expressway from Nerima to Nagaoka, as well as the Hokuriku Expressway beyond Nagaoka to its terminus in the city of Niigata. The Kan-Etsu Expressway Jōetsu Route is concurrent with the Niigata Route until Fujioka Junction, where it branches off as the Jōshin-etsu Expressway and traverses Nagano Prefecture to its terminus in Jōetsu, Niigata.^[2] The remainder of this article will focus on the Niigata Route section between Nerima and Nagaoka.

Overview

Kan-Etsu Expressway in Minamiuonuma

The expressway begins in Nerima Ward in the north of Tokyo; the Kan-etsu is the only national expressway linking Tokyo that does not have a direct connection with the urban Shuto Expressway network. A junction with the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway near the origin links the Kan-etsu with other expressways serving northern parts of the Tokyo urban area. From here the expressway follows a roughly northwesterly course to its terminus in Niigata Prefecture, passing through central areas of Saitama Prefecture and Gunma Prefecture. In Gunma the Kan-etsu provides access to Nagano Prefecture by way of the Jōshin-etsu Expressway at Fujioka Junction, and completion of the Kita-Kantō Expressway in 2011^[3] will facilitate access to Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture. The mountainous area separating Gunma and Niigata Prefectures is traversed by the Kan-Etsu Tunnel, the second longest road tunnel in Japan.^[4] The expressway then passes through southern Niigata Prefecture before terminating at a junction with the Hokuriku Expressway in Nagaoka.

The expressway parallels National Route 17 and the Jōetsu Shinkansen of East Japan Railway Company for most of its length.

The first section opened in 1971 and the entire route was opened to traffic in 1985.^[5] Currently the route is 6 lanes from Ōizumi Junction to Shibukawa-Ikaho Interchange, and all other sections are 4 lanes.

List of interchanges and features

• IC - interchange, SIC - smart interchange, JCT - junction, SA - service area, PA - parking area, TB - toll gate, BS - bus stop, CB - snow chains, TN - tunnel, BR - bridge

No.	Name	Connections	Dist. from origin	Dist. from terminus	Bus stop	Notes	Speed limit	Location
1	Nerima IC	Met. Route 24 (Nerima Tokorozawa Route / Mejiro Dōri)	0.0	246.2			80 km/h	Nerima	Tokyo
2	Ōizumi JCT	Tokyo Gaikan Expressway	0.8	245.0		IC entrance: Nagaoka-bound only
	Ōizumi IC	Met. Route 24 (Nerima Tokorozawa Route / Mejiro Dōri)
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed
TB	Niiza Toll Gate		↓	↑				Niiza	Saitama
							100 km/h
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed
3	Tokorozawa IC	National Route 463 (Urawa Tokorozawa Bypass)	9.4	236.4				Tokorozawa
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed		Miyoshi
PA	Miyoshi PA/ SIC		14.0	231.8
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed		Fujimino
4	Kawagoe IC	National Route 16	21.2	224.6				Kawagoe
BS	Kawagoe- Matoba BS		↓	↑	○
4-1	Tsurugashima JCT	Ken-Ō Expressway	28.1	217.7				Tsuruga- shima
5	Tsurugashima IC	National Route 407	29.6	216.2
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed
SA	Takasaka SA		34.7	211.1				Higashi- matsuyama
BS	Bus Stop		36.5	209.3	X	Closed
6	Higashi- matsuyama IC	National Route 254 Pref. Route 47 (Fukaya Higashimatsuyama Route)	39.4	206.4	X	Bus Stop closed
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed		Namegawa
6-1	Ranzan-Ogawa IC	Pref. Route 11 (Kumagaya Ogawa Chichibu Route)	47.4	198.4				Ranzan
PA	Ranzan PA		50.1	195.7
7	Hanazono IC	National Route 140	56.1	189.7	X	Bus Stop closed		Fukaya
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed		Yorii
PA	Yorii PA		63.4	182.4				Fukaya/ Yorii
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed		Misato
8	Honjō-Kodama IC	National Route 462	69.6	176.2	X	Bus Stop closed		Honjō
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed		Kamisato
SA	Kamisato SA		75.5	170.3
BS	Bus Stop		↓	↑	X	Closed		Takasaki	Gunma
9	Fujioka JCT	Jōshin-etsu Expressway	78.6	167.2				Fujioka
9-1	Takasaki JCT	Kita-Kantō Expressway	84.6	161.2				Takasaki
10	Takasaki IC	Pref. Route 27 (Takasaki Komagata Route)	87.0	158.8
11	Maebashi IC	National Route 17	92.1	153.7				Takasaki/ Maebashi
11-1 PA	Komayose PA/ SIC		98.3	147.5				Yoshioka
12	Shibukawa-Ikaho IC	National Route 17 (Shibukawa Bypass)	103.2	142.6				Shibukawa
							80 km/h
BR	No.1 Tonegawa Bridge		↓	↑		Length - 784m
CB	Miharada CB		↓	↑		Nerima-bound only
12-1/ PA	Akagi IC/PA	Pref. Route 70 (Ōmama Kamishiroi Route)	111.0	134.8
SA	Akagi-kōgen SA		118.3	127.5				Shōwa
12-2	Shōwa IC	Pref. Route 65 (Shōwa Inter Route)	120.4	125.4
13	Numata IC	National Route 120	125.6	120.2				Numata
CB	Numata CB		↓	↑		Nagaoka-bound only
14	Tsukiyono IC	National Route 17	130.9	114.9				Minakami
PA	Shimomoku PA		135.3	110.5
BR	Ōmine Bridge		↓	↑		Length - 784m
15	Minakami IC	National Route 291	140.8	105.0
PA	Tanigawadake PA		145.8	100.0
TN	Kan-Etsu Tunnel		↓	↑		Nerima-bound 11,055m Nagaoka-bound 10,926m	70 km/h
								Yuzawa	Niigata
PA	Tsuchitaru PA		157.3	88.5			80 km/h
16	Yuzawa IC	National Route 17	166.7	79.1	○
TN	Ishiuchi Tunnel		↓	↑		Nerima-bound 1,590m Nagaoka-bound 1,500m		Minami- uonuma
SA	Shiozawa- Ishiuchi SA		(173.5)	72.3		Nerima-bound only
16-1/ SA	Shiozawa- Ishiuchi IC/SA	Pref. Route 28 (Shiozawa Yamato Route)	175.2	70.6		SA: Nagaoka-bound only
BR	Nakanojima Bridge		↓	↑		Length 460m
17	Muikamachi IC	National Route 253	186.6	59.2	○
BR	Hakkai Bridge		↓	↑		Length - 610m
17-1/ PA	Yamato PA/ SIC		198.0	47.8
18	Koide IC	National Route 291	204.1	41.7	○			Uonuma
18-1/ PA	Horinouchi IC/PA	Pref. Route 23 (Kashiwazaki Takahama Horinouchi Route)	211.7	34.1
BR	Kawaguchi Bridge		↓	↑				Nagaoka
19/SA	Echigo-Kawaguchi IC/SA	Pref. Route 83 (Kawaguchi Shiodono Route)	220.6	25.2	○
TN	Yamamotosan Tunnel		↓	↑				Ojiya
20	Ojiya IC	National Route 291	228.5	17.3	○
							100 km/h
PA	Yamaya PA		230.6	15.2
BS	Katakai BS		234.7	11.1	○
BS	Koshiji BS		238.4	7.4	○			Nagaoka
20-1	Nagaokaminami- Koshiji SIC	Pref. Route 23 (Kashiwazaki Takahama Horinouchi Route)	↓	↑
21	Nagaoka IC	National Route 8	244.2	1.6	○
							80 km/h
(37)	Nagaoka JCT	Hokuriku Expressway	245.8	0.0
Through to Hokuriku Expressway

References

1. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Kanto Regional Development Bureau. "Road Timetable". Retrieved 2008-04-16.
2. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. "High Standard Trunk Road Map" (pdf). Retrieved 2008-04-13.
3. "E-NEXCO Opening Schedule". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
4. Nagasaki University Geo-Environment Laboratory. "Kanetsu Tunnel". Retrieved 2008-04-16.
5. Japan Civil Engineering Contractors Association. "Construction History of Japan, 1985". Retrieved 2008-04-16.

External links

• East Nippon Expressway Company (Japanese)