Tohoku Expressway Out-bound Line Between Iwafune Junction and Tochigi Interchange
We will establish a new climbing lane and start operation.
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- Press Release Kanto Regional Head Office
- Tohoku Expressway Out-bound Line A new uphill lane will be established and operated between Iwafune Junction and Tochigi Interchange
March 14, 2016
East Nippon Expressway Co., Ltd.
Kanto Regional Head Office
NEXCO EAST Kanto Regional Head Office (Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture), installation work for climbing lanes was carried out with the aim of eliminating traffic congestion on the uphill slope between Iwafune Junction (JCT) and Tochigi Interchange (IC) on the Tohoku Expressway Out-bound line. We would like to inform you that we will start operation on Friday, March 18, this time.
1 Operation start date and time
Friday, March 18, 2016 at 15:00 *1
- 1: The operation start time may change depending on the weather conditions on the day
2 Business overview
Tohoku Expressway Out-bound line of Iwafune JCT ~ Tochigi between the IC is, at a time when traffic such as major holidays and summer congestion period is increased, it has become one of the points that large-scale congestion occurs, Tohoku Expressway in the Out-bound line Is the place*2 where traffic congestion has the greatest impact on traffic. During Golden Week 2015, due to traffic accidents, during the same period, the traffic congestion was extended to the worst in Japan (maximum traffic length of 63.9km).
The main causes of traffic congestion are slowing down due to uphill slopes, the effect of cars merging from the Kita-Kanto Expressway, and the lane shift to the right to avoid it. ..
For this reason, in order to smoothly merge from the Kita-Kanto Expressway to eliminate traffic congestion due to the decrease in traffic capacity due to climbing uphill, etc., the current 3 lanes are newly added with an uphill lane of about 5 km to make 4 lanes. We are proceeding with the business and have decided to start operations.
- 2: Congestion volume (congestion duration and congestion extension, that is, the product of the influence time due to congestion and the scale of congestion) is the largest portion of the Tohoku Expressway Out-bound line Kawaguchi JCT-Aomori IC (2014 results) NEXCO East Japan survey)
3 Location map
Figure-1 Tohoku Expressway Out-bound Line Between Iwafune JCT and Tochigi IC Uphill Lane Operation Location Map
4 Causes of traffic congestion between Iwafune JCT and Tochigi IC and remedial measures
Tohoku Expressway Out-bound Between Iwafune JCT and Tochigi IC on the line, there is a continuous uphill (maximum slope 2.9%), so you should be aware of it. Slow speed, the influence of cars merging from Kita-Kanto Expressway in Iwafune JCT, and the lanes on the right side of the existing three lanes (overtaking lane or second lane) to avoid it The traffic is concentrated in the right lane due to the change to the lane, and traffic is congested due to further speed reduction.
As a measure of this congestion, Iwafune of JCT Kita-Kanto Expressway from Tohoku Expressway Out-bound the acceleration lane to merge into the line to the near beyond the top of the then continues uphill from the current 600m (Crest), it was stretched about extending about 5km Therefore, we decided to make the uphill part 4 lanes from 3 lanes and the newly installed uphill lane.
This will enable smooth merging of vehicles arriving from the Kita-Kanto Expressway and increase the number of lanes that can pass by increasing the number of lanes.
Figure 2 Tohoku Expressway Out-bound Congestion mechanism between Iwafune JCT and Tochigi IC
Request to use the newly installed climbing lane
This traffic congestion measure increases the number of lanes and the number of vehicles that can pass, but when a slow-speed vehicle drives in the right lane such as an overtaking lane, the number of lanes that can pass is reduced and the effect of traffic congestion measures is fully demonstrated. Therefore, please cooperate with the following driving method when traveling in this section.
[Driving method to alleviate traffic congestion]
- From Kitakanto Expressway Takasaki direction to Tohoku Expressway Fukushima direction
When joining Iwafune JCT with Tohoku Expressway, please use the uphill lane as it is and join with plenty of space. - When driving from Tohoku Expressway from Tokyo to Fukushima
The length of the climbing lane is approximately 5km. As you are climbing uphill, be careful of slowing down and use the uphill lane.
- NEXCO East Japan will proactively disseminate information about the above "driving methods" to customers through public relations materials such as posters, leaflets, traffic jam forecast guides (to be distributed around March 25 (Fri)).
Figure 3 Driving method for alleviating traffic congestion (conceptual diagram)
5 Effect of improvement after countermeasures
By increasing the number of lanes and actively using the uphill lane with the ``driving method for traffic congestion relief'' when customers pass through this section, it is expected that the current traffic congestion will be resolved. It will be.
As a result, Tohoku Expressway in the Out-bound addition to eliminating the congestion of large this section of the impact on traffic by the most congestion in the line, this section duty ※ 3, and is 5 years from the whole line opened on March 19 (Sunday) Kita-Kanto Expressway, there will be no increase in travel time due to traffic jams, etc., and the reliability of punctuality will be improved regarding the movement of Gunma, Tochigi, and Ibaraki to the three prefectures of Kita-Kanto.
- 3: Tohoku Expressway Iwafune JCT-Tochigi Tsuga JCT 13.6kn is Kita-Kanto Expressway and is a heavy duty section (see Figure 1 upper right figure). ☆ A section where a road is in service with another road
Figure 4 Traffic congestion on the Tohoku Expressway Out-bound line (aggregated by traffic congestion)
6 About public relations
We will provide guidance to customers regarding the operation of uphill lanes and driving methods for traffic congestion relief as follows.
- Display posters and leaflets in service areas, parking areas, etc.
- Post banners on overpasses on Expressway
- In addition to conducting publicity*4 regarding the use of lanes using a simple LED information board, we will also use the nearby highway radio to provide information on how to drive to reduce traffic congestion.
- 4: Public information started from Golden Week in April 2016
Fig. 5 Guidance by simple LED information board at the site (image)
7 Other
[About the 5th anniversary of the opening of the entire Kita-Kanto Expressway]
Kita-Kanto Expressway opens on March 19, 2011 between Ota Kiryu IC and Sano Danuma IC with an extension of 18.6km, and extends from Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture to Hitachinaka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, approximately 150km (including about 10km of Higashi-Mito Road We will celebrate the 5th anniversary this month (March 2016) since the opening of the Kita-Kanto Expressway.
The current average traffic volume is 28,000 vehicles/day, of which Gunma, Tochigi, and Ibaraki prefectures border each other between Ota Kiryu IC and Ashikaga IC, and between Moka IC and Sakuragawa Chikusei IC. It is 30,000 units/day and 16,000 units/day, and it is used as a Expressway network connecting the three northern Kanto regions. In addition, the number of factory locations in the three prefectures of northern Kanto is increasing due to the network formation.
Passenger number
Figure-6 Changes in the number of traffic on the Kita-Kanto Expressway
Time saving effect
- Maebashi City, Utsunomiya City, and Mito City are connected by the Kita-Kanto Expressway, so travel time has been greatly reduced compared to ordinary roads.
- The fastest way to move between Maebashi City and Mito City is to use Kita-Kanto Expressway even if you include other modes of transportation.
Changes in the number of factory locations in the three northern Kanto regions
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