Ban'etsu Highway

	Template: Infobox high-level road / Maintenance / JP-A
	Ban'etsu Highway in Japan
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	NEXCO Higashi-Nihon
Start of the street:	Iwaki
End of street:	Niigata
Overall length:	213 km
of which in operation:	213 km
Prefecture :	Fukushima; Niigata;
	Departure from Kōriyama in Kōriyama city.

The Ban'etsu Highway ( Japanese 磐越自動車道 , Ban'etsu jidōshadō ) is a highway in Japan . The highway is an east-west route over the northern part of the island of Honshu , from Iwaki in Fukushima prefecture via Kōriyama to Niigata on the west coast. There is a short single-track section between Yasuda and Niigata. The rest of the highway has 2 × 2 lanes. The highway is 213 kilometers long.

Ban'etsu ( 磐越 ) refers to the region of the historical provinces of Iwaki ( 磐城国 ; today the eastern part of the Fukushima Prefecture) and Echigo ( 越後国 ; today Niigata Prefecture ).

Street description

The Ban'etsu Highway begins at Iwaki, near the east coast, on the Jōban Highway , a north-south highway from Tokyo along the coast to the north. The highway has 2 × 2 lanes and runs to the northwest, through a wooded and hilly landscape. The slopes are very far apart. After about 60 kilometers you reach the city of Kōriyama, where it crosses the Tōhoku Highway , the most important north-south highway from Tokyo to Aomori in the north. The west of this area is mountainous but the Ban'etsu Highway runs through an area that is still flat. Here comes the city of Aizu-Wakamatsu , the only major city between Koriyama and Niigata. This is followed by a mountain range with many medium-sized tunnels several kilometers in length. A single-lane section leads from Yasuda to just before the city of Niigata. The highway then crosses the Nihonkai-Tōhoku Highway and the Hokuriku Highway, and then ends in the city of Niigata.

history

The Ban'etsu Highway is relatively new. The first section was opened on October 31, 1990 between Bandai and the Tōhoku highway at Kōriyama. In 1991 and 1992 further areas followed in the east of the island. On July 28, 1994, the first section in the west, between Yasuda and Niigata, opened as a single-lane highway. On August 2, 1995, the last part of the eastern section between Iwaki and Koriyama was opened. On October 1, 1997, the last part of the Ban'etsu Highway between Tsugawa and Nishiaizu was opened.

The Ban'etsu Highway was the only highway with flyovers, but initially without 2 × 2 lanes. It was not until 1999 that the first 2 × 2 section opened at Bandai . In 2004 the eastern part between Iwaki and Koriyama was widened to 2 × 2 lanes. Other parts of the middle section followed.

Opening dates of the motorway

from	to	length	date
Kōriyama	Bandaiatami	9 km	October 31, 1990
Bandai-atami	Inawashiro	18 km	08/07/1991
Inawashiro	Aizubange	34 km	October 19, 1992
Yasuda	Niigata-Chūō	23 km	07/28/1994
Iwaki	Kōriyama	71 km	08/02/1995
Aizubange	Nishiaizu	12 km	10/17/1996
Tsugawa	Yasuda	23 km	11/14/1996
Nishiaizu	Tsugawa	22 km	10/01/1997

Traffic volume

Traffic in 2005 was 9,100 vehicles per day at the east end at Iwaki, increasing to a volume of 12,900 vehicles per day at Koriyama. To the west there are about 6500 to 8000 vehicles per day in the central part and 8300 vehicles per day at the western end near Niigata.

Expansion of the roadways

from	to	length	Lanes
Iwaki	Yasuda	189 km	2 × 2
Yasuda	Niigata	20 km	2 × 1
Niigata	Niigata-Chūō	5 km	2 × 2

Web links

Commons : Ban'etsu Highway - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

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


NEXCO Higashi-Nihon	Akita • Aomori • Ban'etsu • Dōtō • Hachinohe • Higashi-Kantō • Hokkaidō • Hokuriku • Jōban • Jōshin'etsu • Kamaishi • Kan'etsu • Kita-Kantō • Nagano • Nihonkai-Tōhoku • Sanriku • Sasson • Shin-Kūkō • Sasson • Shin-Kūkō • Tateyama • Tōhoku • Tōhoku-Chūō • Tōkyō-Gaikan • Yamagata
NEXCO Naka-Nihon	Chūbu-Ōdan • Chūō • Higashi-Meihan • Hokuriku • Ise • Isewangan • Kisei • Meishin • Mei-Nikan • Nagano • Nōetsu • Shin-Meishin • Tōkai-Hokuriku • Tōkai-Kanjō • Tōmei • Shin-Tōmei
NEXCO Nishi-Nihon	Chūgoku • Hamada • Hanwa • Harima • Higashi-Kyushu • Hiroshima • Kammon • Kansai Kuko • Keinawa • Kinki • Kōchi • Kyoto-Jukan • Kyushu • Maizuru-Wakasa • Matsue • Matsuyama • Meishin • Minami-Kyushu • Miyazaki • Nagasaki • Nishi-Kyushu • Nishi-Meihan • Ōita • Okayama • Okinawa • Onomichi • San'in • San'yō • Daini-Keihan • Shin-Meishin • Takamatsu • Tokushima • Tottori • Yonago
HSBE	Kobe Awaji Naruto • Nishiseto • Seto Chūō
City highways	Fukuoka • Hanshin • Hiroshima • Kitakyushu • Nagoya • Tokyo