Akita Highway

Akita Highway in Japan
map
Basic data
Operator:	NEXCO Higashi-Nihon
Start of the street:	Kitakami
End of street:	Noshiro
Overall length:	187 km
of which in operation:	187 km
Prefecture :	Iwate Akita
Course of the road (37)  Kitakami ( 北上 ) (1)  Kitakami-nishi ( 北上 西 ) Waga-Sennin tunnel ( 和 賀 仙人 TN) length 3776 m Kinshūko ( 錦秋 湖 SA) (2)  Yuda ( 湯 田 ) Sannai tunnel ( 山 内 TN) length 2440 m Sannai ( 山 内 PA) Sannai bus stop ( 山 内 BS) (3)  Yokote ( 横 手 ) Hiraka bus stop ( 平 鹿 BS) Asahi bus stop ( 旭 BS) Kakumagawa bus stop ( 角 間 川 BS) Omonogawa Daiichi Bridge ( 雄 物 川 第一 BR) length 549 m Ōmori ( 大 森 PA) (4)  Ōmagari ( 大曲 ) Nangai bus stop ( 南 外 BS) (4-1)  Nishisenboku ( 西 仙 北 ) Omonogawa Daini Bridge ( 雄 物 川 第二 BR) (5)  Kyōwa ( 協和 ) (5-1)  Kawabe ( 河 辺 ) (6)  Akita -minami ( 秋田 南 ) (7)  Akita-chūō ( 秋田 中央 ) Taihei-zan ( 太平山 PA) (8th)  Akita-kita ( 秋田 北 ) (9)  Shōwa - Ogahantō ( 昭和 男 鹿 半島 ) (10)  Gojōme - Hachirōgata ( 五 城 目 八郎 潟 ) Hachirōko ( 八郎 湖 SA) (11)  Kotooka -Moritake ( 琴丘森岳 ) Kotooka-Moritake toll station ( 琴丘森岳 TB) (12)  Hachiryū ( 八 竜 ) (13)  Noshiro -minami ( 能 代 南 ) (14)  Noshiro-higashi ( 能 代 東 ) (15)  Futatsui -Shirakami ( 二 ツ 井 白 神 ) further than

The Akita Highway ( Japanese 秋田 自動 車道 Akita jidōshadō , short 秋田 道 Akitadō , English Akita Expressway ) is a highway in Japan . The highway runs as an east-west route through the north of the island of Honshū , from Kitakami via Akita to Noshiro . It is 187 kilometers long. Large parts of the route are only single-lane due to insufficient traffic density. Overtaking is usually not possible here.

Street description

The highway begins in Kitakami, in the south of Iwate Prefecture, in a wide valley that runs north to south. At the junction with the Tōhoku highway, the Akita highway begins with 2 × 1 lanes and heads west. The terrain there becomes abruptly mountainous and the road climbs over a short distance to over 200 meters. The road leads through many single-tube tunnels, where a maximum speed of 70 or 80 km / h applies. In the Yokote area, the road goes through flatter areas again and then turns northwest. The motorway here has 2 × 2 lanes. The west coast of Honshū is hilly with low mountains and lots of forests. South of Akita, the highway ends at the Nihonkai-Tohoku Highway, which runs to Sakata. From here the motorway has only 2 × 1 lanes to the end.

history

The road was built in 1983 as part of a construction program by the Japanese government. On July 25, 1991 the first part about Akita was opened. On March 17, 1993 a part followed at Noshiro, the northern end of the Akita Highway. Between 1994 and 1997, several parts opened halfway to Yokote. The last part was opened on November 13, 1997. Between 2001 and 2004 various parts were expanded to 2 × 2 lanes, especially between Morioka and Akita. On October 1, 2005, the motorway was privatized.

Opening dates of the motorway

from	to	Length [km]	date
Yokote	Akita	57	July 25, 1991
Hachiryu	Noshiro	4th	March 17, 1993
Kitakami	Kitakami	9	Aug 4, 1994
Yuda	Yokote	20th	Nov 10, 1995
Akita	Shōwa-Ogahantō	26th	Nov 13, 1997
Kotooka moritake	Hachiryu	13	March 30, 2002
Shōwa-Ogahantō	Kotooka moritake	21st	28 Sep 2002
Noshiro	Noshiro	6th	July 29, 2006
Noshiro	Futatsui shirakami	10	Aug 12, 2007

Traffic volume

Traffic on the Akita Highway is very low, so most of the highway is single lane. Between Kitakami and Yokote, an average of 5,500 to 7,100 vehicles drive per day, in Akita up to 10,200 vehicles. Further north, the volume drops to 5,000 vehicles per day.

Expansion of the roadways

from	to	Length [km]	Lanes
Tōhoku Highway	Yokote	51	2 × 1
Yokote	Asahi	7th	2 × 2
Asahi	Ōmori	11	2 × 1
Ōmori	Akita	38	2 × 2
Akita	Futatsui	79	2 × 1

Web links

Commons : Akita Highway  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Operating company Higashi-Nihon Kōsokudōro KK (Japanese)
• Wegenwiki (Dutch)