[BITList] Fwd: Astounding Japanese Highways, bridges, & Interchanges.

[John Feltham]

Astounding Japanese Highways, Bridges & Interchanges

Japan saw most of its infrastructure bombed back to the stone age in  
the final years of World War II, which makes the country's post-war  
rejuvenation all the more astounding. Huge, complex public works  
projects saw a concrete & steel web of highways, bridges and  
interchanges blossom from the wreckage of war.

Today, shaped by the demands of restrictive space and economic boom &  
bust, Japan's hardened transportation arteries display artistic forms  
that go far beyond their functions.






Above left is the Hakozaki Junction, part of the Metropolitan  
Expressway in Tokyo, and at right is the Hokko Junction in Osaka...  
These images illustrate the solution engineers used when building  
multi-lane highway interchanges in some of the world's most crowded  
cities in Japan: go vertical!




Ken Ohyama has made it his mission to chronicle some of the more  
striking Japanese roadworks in a Flickr series called Interchange and  
a book of his photos available from Amazon. One of the more  
outstanding examples is The Hokko Junction shown above - a part of the  
Hanshin Expressway near Japan's second city, Osak



Also in Osaka is the Higashiosaka (East Osaka) Loop of the Hanshin  
Expressway. The photographer's technique gives the sweeping curve of  
the roadway an almost tubular appearance


When engineers have space to work with, they take full advantage. This  
wide field view of the Higashiosaka interchange shows the almost  
organic complexity of a busy cloverleaf, resembling a living  
creature's circulatory system with the vehicles acting as blood cells.


Highways upon highways... without any end in sight:


One interesting feature of Japanese elevated highways: they often run  
above rivers or sea channels, using the available space above the  
water. Here are some of these "highways on the sea"






The incredible Japanese road infrastructure really took off in the  
1960s - check out the vintage photo on the right:



Such "Bladerunner" sights are commonplace now, brimming with urban  
energy -





By the way, for the tricky "urban density" photography, head over to  
this page... and see if you can spot something wrong with the image  
there.


Slipping Sideways

Some sections of the Hanshin Expressway suffered severe damage during  
the 7.2 magnitude Great Hanshin Earthquake which hit the Kobe, Japan  
area in January of 1995, killing over 5,500 people and costing over  
$200 billion.


On the bright side, the affected sections of the highway did not  
"pancake", as happened in the 1989 Loma Prieta quake, but instead  
slipped sideways and tumbled over. Either way, one doesn't want to be  
driving through a highway interchange or junction when a big quake hits!


Recession, what recession?

Public works spending has long been the Japanese government's  
preferred way to spend budget surpluses, boost employment, keep the  
ruling party's supporters in the construction industry loyal, or all  
of the above. The highway depicted below is one of those projects,  
steadily overtaking a quiet city street like Godzilla in slow motion



Which came first, the highway or the building? The question is moot as  
both have learned to accommodate one another. The Hanshin Expressway  
takes a shortcut through the 5th to 7th floors of Fukushima's Gate  
Tower building, also known as the Bee Hive.



The story goes that the original building's owner wanted to knock it  
down and rebuild, but was told by city planners that the space was  
being allocated to a newly planned exit of the expressway. Both sides  
refused to budge, and the compromise was completed in 1992.



Tokyo residents can easily avoid using the highways and expressways  
which crisscross the city, thanks to one of the world's largest and  
most efficient subway systems, but when traffic is light they can be a  
pleasure to drive. The view can be pretty intense, as in the time- 
lapse photo below








Urban density in Tokyo is simply astounding



The Rainbow Bridge and the longest suspension bridge

Dark Roasted Blend has been covering some rather fascinating bridges  
before. Here are a few more - a spectacular sample from Japan. The 570  
meter (1,870 ft) long Rainbow Bridge spans the northern (inner) part  
of Tokyo Bay and has been a city landmark since it opened in 1993. Two  
roadways, a transit line and pedestrian walkways all use the bridge,  
resulting in a seemingly chaotic tangle from certain angles.




It's at night, however, that the Rainbow Bridge comes alive with  
signature color! Spotlights mounted at strategic locations bathe the  
bridge's superstructure in prismatic glory. Best of all, the lighting  
is solar powered with energy stored during the day powering the light  
show at night


Announced in 1969, the massive Kobe-Naruto highway route project  
stretches 81 kilometers to connect Japan's main island of Honshu with  
the much smaller island of Shikoku to the south. The jewel in the  
crown is the 4-kilometer long Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, which cost $3.6  
billion to build over the ten year period between 1988 and 1998



Of course, any discussion of Japanese highways wouldn't be complete  
without mention of Mount Fuji. The mountain's iconic snowy peak is  
visible from Tokyo - on clear days, at least - but though it's  
certainly possible to reach the dormant volcano's doorstep via  
highway, taking the Shinkansen bullet train is a better bet











ooroo

Bad typists of the word, untie.




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