Expressways

Junctions, tunnels and long-span bridges of the expressway network that threads through Tokyo and the Kanto region.

Tokyo Port Tunnel Shinagawa City / Koto City (Tokyo Port) Two parallel road tunnels beneath Tokyo Port connect Oi in Shinagawa with Odaiba in Koto City. The Shuto Expressway tunnel (opened 1976, immersed-tube method) and the toll-free National Route 357 tunnel (westbound 2016, eastbound 2019, shield method) together form the bay's principal road crossing.

Tamagawa Sky Bridge Ota City to Kawasaki A 675-metre composite rigid-frame bridge opened in March 2022, linking Haneda Global Wings in Ota City with Kawasaki's King Sky Front cluster across the Tama River. Its maximum span of 240 metres is the longest for this bridge type in Japan. Open to pedestrians and cyclists, it created a ten-minute crossing between two major innovation districts.

Yokohama Bay Bridge Yokohama (Honmoku to Daikoku Wharves) An 860-metre cable-stayed bridge opened in September 1989, linking Honmoku and Daikoku Wharves across the entrance of Yokohama Harbour. Twin towers reach 175 metres above sea level; the two-deck structure carries the Shuto Expressway Bayshore Route above and National Route 357 below, with a 55-metre ship clearance.

Ken-O Expressway Kanagawa, Tokyo, Saitama, Ibaraki, Chiba A planned 300-kilometre ring expressway circling the greater Tokyo metropolitan area at roughly 40 to 60 kilometres from the city centre. First opened in March 1996, Ken-O connects Tokyo's radial motorways — from the Tomei to the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line — without routing traffic through the urban core.

Tomei Expressway Tokyo to Nagoya, 346.7 km Japan's 346.7-kilometre expressway linking Tokyo with Nagoya, fully opened on 26 May 1969. Connecting at Komaki with the Meishin Expressway, it extended the high-speed corridor to Kobe and transformed freight logistics, industry and leisure travel along Japan's Pacific coast.

Yokohane Route (Kanagawa Route 1) Ota Ward, Tokyo — Naka Ward, Yokohama A metropolitan expressway approximately 20 kilometres long running from the northern end of Kosoku Daishi Bridge in Ota, Tokyo, to Ishikawacho Junction in Naka Ward, Yokohama. Opened in stages from 1968, the route reached its full length in February 1984, tracing the industrial and port belt of western Tokyo Bay.

Tokyo Gaikan Expressway A ring road about 15 km from the centre An expressway ringing Tokyo roughly 15 kilometres from the centre. One of the metropolitan area's three ring roads, planned at about 85 kilometres in all, its eastern arc was completed in 2018 with the Misato-minami to Koya section, joining the Kan-etsu, Tohoku, Joban, and Keiyo/Higashi-Kanto radial expressways without passing through the centre. The western Tomei-to-Kan-etsu section is still under construction.

Tokyo Gate Bridge Wakasu to the Central Breakwater A 2,618-metre truss bridge across Tokyo Bay, opened in 2012, linking Wakasu with the Central Breakwater. Its silhouette of two facing trusses has earned it the nickname 'Dinosaur Bridge.' The unusual form — neither suspension nor cable-stayed — was chosen to meet two constraints at once: clearance for large ships and the height limit near Haneda Airport.

Rainbow Bridge Shibaura Pier to Odaiba A suspension bridge over Tokyo Bay, 798 metres long with a 570-metre central span. Officially the Tokyo Port Connector Bridge, it opened in 1993 in a two-tier structure: the Shuto Expressway Daiba Route 11 above, and the Yurikamome, a harbour road, and a footway below. It directly links the waterfront sub-centre with central Tokyo — an icon of the bay.

Goshikizakura Bridge Adachi City A double-deck Nielsen-Lohse arch bridge spanning the Arakawa River on the C2 Central Circular Route, opened in December 2002 as the world's first bridge of its type.

Daikoku Junction Tsurumi Ward, Yokohama City The interchange where the Shuto Expressway Bayshore Route and Kanagawa Route 5 Daikoku Line meet, in Daikoku-futo, Yokohama. Its intricately curved ramp geometry, designed using differential geometry, forms a distinctive aerial pattern above one of Yokohama Port's main freight districts. Opened December 1994.

Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line / Umihotaru Kawasaki City, Kanagawa – Kisarazu City, Chiba A 15.1 km sea-crossing expressway linking Kawasaki and Kisarazu across Tokyo Bay, with a 9.5 km undersea tunnel (Aqua-Tunnel) and a 4.4 km overwater bridge (Aqua-Bridge). The midpoint artificial island, Umihotaru, offers 360-degree views of the bay. Opened December 1997.

Edobashi Junction Chuo City The first junction ever built on the Shuto Expressway, opened on 21 December 1963 above the Nihonbashi River in Chuo City, where the Inner Circular Route (C1) and several radial lines converge at one of central Tokyo's most consistently congested interchange points.

Nihonbashi Expressway Undergrounding Chuo City / Chiyoda City A ¥320 billion project to move 1.8 km of the Shuto Expressway's Inner Circular Route underground between Kandabashi and Edobashi junctions, dismantling the elevated structure that has shadowed Nihonbashi Bridge since 1963 and restoring open sky above the river by 2040.

Hakozaki Junction Chuo City The most structurally complex junction on the Shuto Expressway, where the Inner Circular Route (C1), Route 6 (Mukojima Line), and Route 9 (Fukagawa Line) converge in Nihonbashi Hakozaki-cho, Chuo City. A right-turn rotary embedded within a four-tier elevated structure earned it the nickname 'King of Junctions'.

Ohashi Junction Meguro City A four-tier loop interchange in Ōhashi, Meguro, connecting the elevated Shibuya Route with the underground Central Circular Route (C2). Its enclosed shell roof has been transformed into Meguro Sky Garden, a 7,000 m² circular public park running 400 metres around the loop.

Bayshore Route (B) Yokohama / Kawasaki / Ota / Koto / Edogawa / Ichikawa A 62.1-kilometre arc of expressway tracing Tokyo Bay from Yokohama to Ichikawa in Chiba, opened in stages between 1976 and 2001. The route links Haneda Airport, Odaiba, Toyosu, and the port logistics zones of Kawasaki in one continuous corridor.

Central Circular Route (C2) Shinagawa / Meguro / Shinjuku / Itabashi / Edogawa and more Tokyo's second ring expressway, completed on 7 March 2015 as the first of the Greater Tokyo three-ring network to open in full. At its core is the Yamate Tunnel — 18.2 kilometres long, Japan's longest road tunnel and the world's longest expressway tunnel.

Inner Circular Route (C1) Chiyoda / Chuo / Minato A 14.8-kilometre loop of elevated expressway encircling central Tokyo, opened in stages from December 1962 to 1967. The backbone of the Shuto Expressway network, C1 threads above rivers, moats, and filled canal beds through the heart of the city.

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