CONSTRUCTION OF THE KYUSHU EXPRESSWAY: A TYPICAL MOUNTAIN EXPRESSWAY BETWEEN YATSUSHIRO AND HITOYOSHI

Since the start of the construction of the Meishin Expressway in 1957, the total length of the inter-urban expressways presently in operation in Japan is 4672 km (as of August 1990). An additional 2300 km is under construction. The rapid growth and development of the Japanese economy has required further improvement of the transportation systems, especially Japan's expressways. With the additions made last year, the total length of the planned expressways has increased to 14000 km with completion expected early in the 21st century. This paper describes the construction of the 38.5 km section between Yatsushiro Interchange (I.C.) and Hitoyoshi I.C. on the Kyushu expressway which runs through a mountainous area. A 16-year construction period and an expenditure of about $1.4 billion was required to build the 23 tunnels (18.3 km) and 53 bridges (8.9 km) which were constructed to cope with the mountainous terrain of this section. This newly opened expressway is considerably enhancing the economic development in Southern Kyushu. For the covering abstract see IRRD 863490.