japani roads ... need a road map

"Farewell Horizontal!"


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!

























ne of the more outstanding examples is
The Hokko Junction shown above - a part of the Hanshin Expressway near
Japan's second city, Osaka.

















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 -





















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!