Rainbow Bridge

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.

A Two-Tier Suspension Bridge over Tokyo Bay

The Rainbow Bridge is a suspension bridge across Tokyo Bay between Shibaura Pier and Odaiba. Its formal name is the Tokyo Port Connector Bridge. It is 798 metres long, with a central span of 570 metres between its two towers. Opened on 26 August 1993, it was built alongside the development of the waterfront sub-centre to link the reclaimed land directly with the established city.

The bridge’s defining feature is its two-tier structure. The upper deck carries the tolled Shuto Expressway Daiba Route 11. The lower deck holds the Yurikamome people mover, a general harbour road, and a footway you can walk across. Stacking an expressway, a railway, an ordinary road, and a pedestrian path onto a single bridge distils the ingenuity of urban infrastructure fitting varied traffic into limited space.

A Bridge That Eases the Centre’s Congestion

The aim in building the Rainbow Bridge was clear: to short-circuit the developing waterfront sub-centre with the city centre and spread the traffic load concentrated on the core. Rising on a loop from the Shibaura side to gain height and crossing the bay to Odaiba, its alignment was designed to carry the traffic and people of the bay area while keeping clearance beneath for ships to pass.

At night the towers and cables are lit, and a bridge of light worthy of the name “Rainbow” floats over Tokyo Bay. The view from the Odaiba side toward Shibaura is one of the city’s signature night scenes; cross the lower footway on foot and you feel at once the harbour spreading below and the presence of the expressway running overhead.

Summary

The Rainbow Bridge, a suspension bridge 798 metres long with a 570-metre central span, has linked Shibaura Pier and Odaiba since 1993. Its two-tier structure — the Shuto Expressway above, the Yurikamome, a road, and a footway below — speaks to the density of urban infrastructure. Walk across the footway and take in the waters of Tokyo Bay and the bay-area towers, and you sense the role this bridge has played as the gateway to the waterfront sub-centre.

Related: Tokyo Portcity Takeshiba / Yurikamome

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