1 Date and time of opening

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 13:00
*The opening time may change depending on the weather conditions on the day.

2 Open place

(1) Installed the "Yuzuri Lane" about 1km from the Hanazono IC on the Kan-Etsu Expressway In-bound line on the Tokyo side (near Yorii Town, Osato District, Saitama Prefecture)

(2) Extend the In-bound lane of the Kan-Etsu Expressway Shibukawa Ikaho IC about 1.8 km (near Shibukawa City, Gunma Prefecture)

3 Business overview

On the In-bound line of Kan-Etsu Expressway, heavy traffic jams occur during periods of heavy traffic, such as summer congestion, large holidays, holidays and ski seasons. The main reason for this is a slow speed due to turbulence in the flow of cars due to merged cars from the loose In-bound slope and IC. For this reason, our company has formulated a plan to increase the number of lanes at four locations with the aim of alleviating traffic congestion, and is proceeding with the construction in sequence.On December 17, 2010, the extension work for the exit lane of the Honjo Kodama IC was completed. However, this time, the above two works will be completed. The remaining one (installation of the “Yuzuri lane” near the Kosaka Service Area (SA)) is under preparation for construction.

4 Causes of traffic congestion and remedies

(1) Near Hanazono IC on the Kan-Etsu Expressway In-bound Line
From Garden IC to approximately 1km to the Tokyo side, loose Out-bound slope (gradient of about 0.6%, extending about 4km) from loose In-bound slope (gradient of about 1.4%, length of approximately 1km) there is a point to be changed to. Loose passes through this point In-bound when comes to slope, with the speed drops unnoticed, since further slow down the bias towards specific right lane (Passing Lane) during congestion, heavy traffic period Will cause heavy traffic. To alleviate this congestion, loose In-bound from the front of slope begins the section of approximately 1.5km to past the top of the slope established the "lane for slower traffic", one four-lane number of lanes of the section from the three lanes I decided to. When congestion occurs, a slow-moving vehicle runs in the “Yuzuri lane”, improving the balance of traffic volume that was biased to the right lane and smoothing the flow of the entire vehicle, thus alleviating traffic congestion. I can expect it.

(2) Near the Kan-Etsu Expressway In-bound line Shibukawa Ikaho IC
Shibukawa Ikaho merging lane near the loose IC In-bound slope (gradient from 0.6 to 1.8 percent, extending about 2km) because it becomes, with the speed drops unnoticed, the traffic flow under the influence of car merging from IC Due to the disturbance, the speed will decrease further, causing large congestion during periods of heavy traffic. In order to alleviate this congestion, the merging lane (about 200m) of Shibukawa Ikaho IC, loose In-bound until after the summit of the hill, it was decided to approximately 1.8km stretch. As a result, cars that merge from the IC to the main lane can merge smoothly by using a long merging lane, and the number of lane changes to the right lane (overtaking lane) to avoid merging cars can be reduced, resulting in slower speed. Because it is suppressed, you can expect relief of traffic congestion.

5 Effect of improvement after countermeasures

In addition to the extension of the Honjo Kodama IC exit lane, the addition of two lanes this time will result in an average travel time from Akagi IC to Tsurugashima IC of 133 when the Kan-Etsu Expressway (In-bound line) is congested. It is expected to be shortened from 118 minutes to 118 minutes, about 15 minutes.