Ohashi Junction

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.

A Spiral Bridge Between Sky and Underground

In Ōhashi, Meguro — a few minutes’ walk north from Ikejiri-Ōhashi Station on the Den-en-toshi Line — a cylindrical structure rises quietly among the surrounding houses. This is Ohashi Junction. The Shibuya Route runs at approximately 35 metres above ground, while the Central Circular Route (C2) passes about 36 metres underground through the Yamate Tunnel. To overcome the roughly 70-metre difference in elevation between them, engineers designed a spiral loop with a circumference of about 400 metres and a diameter of 130 to 175 metres.

The four-tier structure — three levels above ground and one below — fits into roughly one-quarter of the footprint that a conventional interchange would require. Vehicles moving between the elevated and underground routes circle one or two laps of the loop, gaining or losing altitude as they go. To prevent vehicle exhaust from concentrating inside the structure, the entire loop is enclosed in a shell-like cover. The Chuo Kanjo Shinjuku Line section from Ohashi to Nishi-Shinjuku opened on 28 March 2010; the junction reached its present form on 7 March 2015, when the Chuo Kanjo Shinagawa Line was completed.

A Motorway Roof Turned into a Sky Garden

The shell enclosing the loop was designed as a practical measure against exhaust, but it presented an opportunity: rather than leaving the roof bare, the project team turned it into a public park. Meguro Sky Garden opened on 30 March 2013 — a circular promenade approximately 400 metres around and 7,000 square metres in area, planted with lawns and about thirty species of trees, floating between 7 and 35 metres above street level. The garden is maintained as a free public park by Meguro City.

Shuto Expressway Co., Ltd. branded the overall project the “Ohashi Green Junction,” combining three types of greenery: the roof park, climbing plants on the exterior walls, and a nature-regeneration grove called the “Ohashi Village Forest” beside the ventilation structure. The project has received the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Award, among other landscape commendations, and is cited internationally as an example of integrating transport infrastructure with urban ecology.

Summary

Ohashi Junction is a four-tier loop interchange connecting the Shibuya Route and the Central Circular Route (C2) in Ōhashi, Meguro. Opening in stages between 2010 and 2015, the enclosed structure carries Meguro Sky Garden — 7,000 m² of circular greenery — on its roof. Walking up from Ikejiri-Ōhashi Station and completing a full circuit of the garden, with the spiral ramps rising overhead, is one of Tokyo’s more unexpected ways to experience urban infrastructure at close range.

Related: Central Circular Route (C2) / Inner Circular Route (C1)

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