Akita Expressway

The Akita Expressway (秋田自動車道, Akita Jidōsha-dō) is a national expressway in the Tōhoku region of Japan. The 229.2-kilometer-long (142.4 mi) expressway begins at an interchange with the Tōhoku Expressway in Kitakami, Iwate from where it proceeds northwest towards the capital of Akita Prefecture, Akita. From there, it travels northeast back to another interchange along the Tōhoku Expressway in the town of Kosaka. It is jointly owned and operated by East Nippon Expressway Company and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). The Akita Expressway is numbered E7 between Kosaka and Kitakami Junctions and E46 between Kitakami and Kawabe Junctions under the MLIT's "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."^[6]

Akita Expressway
秋田自動車道
Route information
Length	229.2 km[1][2] (142.4 mi) Akita Sotokanjō Expressway: 9.5 km (5.9 mi)[3] Kotooka Noshiro Road: 33.8 km (21.0 mi)[4]
Existed	1991[5]–present
Component highways	National Route 7 Akita Expressway Akita Expressway
Major junctions
South end	Kitakami Junction in Kitakami, Iwate (39.2746°N 141.0747°E / 39.2746; 141.0747) Tōhoku Expressway
Major intersections	Yuzawa-Yokote Road Nihonkai-Tōhoku Expressway
North end	Kosaka Junction in Kosaka, Akita (40.3714°N 140.7133°E / 40.3714; 140.7133) Tōhoku Expressway
Location
Country	Japan
Major cities	Yokote, Daisen, Akita, Noshiro, Ōdate
Highway system
National highways of Japan Expressways of Japan

Route description

The Akita Expressway in Noshiro, Akita

The expressway begins at a junction with the Tōhoku Expressway in Iwate Prefecture and crosses into Akita Prefecture to the west. The route intersects the Tōhoku-Chūō Expressway in Yokote and the Nihonkai-Tōhoku Expressway in the Akita city area. From this junction, the route follows a northerly course parallel to the Sea of Japan to National Route 7 in Noshiro where the expressway meets a gap in its routing. The expressway resumes its course, heading northeast towards the Tōhoku Expressway near Odate–Noshiro Airport in Kitaakita. The Akita Expressway ends at a junction with the Tōhoku Expressway in the town of Kosaka.^[7]

The sections between Hachiryū and Futatsui-Shirakami interchanges and Kanisawa Interchange and Kosaka Junction are toll-free;^[4][8] all other sections assess tolls based on distance traveled in the same manner as most other national expressways.^[9]

The expressway was the first highway of its kind to employ a snow-melting system that stores heat in the expressway's embankments during the summer. The system is in place in Daisen outside of the Kyowa Tunnel. The heat is then released during heavy snowfall events to clear snow off the expressway.^[10]

Official designations

The entire route is signed as the Akita Expressway for consistency purposes, however two separate sections of the route are officially designated as the Akita Sotokanjō Expressway and Kotooka Noshiro Road (both bypasses of National Route 7). These sections are not classified as national expressways but rather as national highways for motor vehicles only with national expressway concurrency (高速自動車国道に並行する一般国道自動車専用道路, Kōsoku Jidōsha Kokudō ni Heikōsuru Ippan Kokudō Jidōsha Senyō Dōro).^[11]

• Kitakami JCT - Akita-kita IC : Tōhoku Ōdan Expressway Kamaishi Akita Route^[11]
• Akita-kita IC - Shōwa-Ogahantō IC : Akita Sotokanjō Expressway^[12]
• Shōwa-Ogahantō IC - Kotooka-Moritake IC : Nihonkai Tōhoku Engan Expressway^[11]
• Kotooka-Moritake IC - Futatsui-Shirakami IC : Kotooka Noshiro Road^[4]

History

Planning for an expressway between the cities of Kitakami and Akita began in 1982. The first section of this expressway was opened on 25 July 1991 after nine years of planning and construction that cost 1.158 trillion yen (about 1 billion US dollars). It was a 52.1-kilometer-long (32.4 mi) section of highway that linked Akita to Yokote.^[10] By 1994 the expressway was linked to the Tōhoku Expressway in Kitakami following the opening of Kitakami Junction.^[13] The next major connection to the expressway was its linkage to the Nihonkai-Tōhoku Expressway at Kawabe Junction in Akita on 23 July 1997.^[5]

An experiment was conducted by MLIT to determine what the effects of lifting tolls along the expressway north of the city of Akita would be. Immediately following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the experiment was suspended to raise funds for the repairs of expressways in the Tōhoku region.^[14] By August 2011 the expressway had been extended in various stages all the way north from the city of Akita to Futatsui-Shirakami Interchange in Noshiro. In August 2011, following the toll-lifting experiment it was decided by MLIT that much of the aforementioned segment of the expressway, as well as any future segments built along the planned route, would be toll-free.^[15] On 30 November 2013, the expressway was linked to its northern terminus in Kosaka along the Tōhoku Expressway following the opening of a 16.1-kilometer (10.0 mi) section of highway.^[16] On 13 December 2020, a 5.3-kilometer (3.3 mi) section of the expressway opened in Kitaakita, extending the northern section of the expressway closer to the southern section.^[17]

Future

As of December 2020, the entirety of the Akita Expressway is open to traffic except for a section linking the cities of Noshiro and Kitaakita in northern Akita Prefecture.^[17] A section of this gap in the route is set to be completed by 2023, however there is no date scheduled for the total completion of the expressway.^[18]

List of interchanges and features

• SA - service area, PA - parking area, TB - toll gate

Prefecture	Location	km[1][2]	mi	Exit	Name	Destinations	Notes
Iwate	Kitakami	0.0	0.0	–	Kitakami	Tōhoku Expressway – to Kamaishi Expressway, Morioka, Aomori, Sendai, Fukushima	Southern terminus of the Akita Expressway; E4 exit 37; E46 continues north along the Tōhoku Expressway
		8.7	5.4	1	Kitakami-nishi	Iwate Prefecture Route 47 west (Kitakami-nishi Inter Route) – Yokote, Geto Iwate Prefecture Route 225 east (Kitakami Waga Route) – Central Kitakami, Ōfunato
	Kitakami–Nishiwaga border	14.1 17.8	8.8 11.1	Waga-Sennin Tunnel
	Nishiwaga	21.4	13.3	SA	Kinshūko
		30.3	18.8	2	Yuda	National Route 107 – Central Yuda, Kitakami, Yokote, Akita
Akita	Yokote	37.5 39.9	23.3 24.8	Sannai Tunnel
		41.0	25.5	PA	Sannai
		50.6	31.4	3	Yokote	Tōhoku-Chūō Expressway north – Yuzawa, Yamagata, Fukushima	junction and interchange
		57.1	35.5	3-1	Yokote-kita	Akita Prefecture Route 29 – to National Route 13, Central Yokote, Yurihonjō	Smart interchange
	Yokote–Daisen border	66.5– 67.0	41.3– 41.6	First Omonogawa Bridge over the Omono River
		68.9	42.8	PA	Ōmori
	Daisen	71.5	44.4	4	Ōmagari	National Route 105 – Agriculture Science Museum National Route 105 east (Ōmagari-Nishi Road) – to National Route 13, Central Ōmagari, Kakunodate, Yokote
		87.8	54.6	4-1 / SA	Nishisenboku	Unnamed city-maintained roads	Smart interchange is built into the service area
		90.1– 90.5	56.0– 56.2	Second Omonogawa Bridge over the Omono River
		95.4	59.3	5	Kyōwa	National Route 341 – Akita Airport, Morioka, Akita, Yokote, Kakunodate
	Akita	103.8	64.5	5-1	Kawabe	Nihonkai-Tōhoku Expressway south – Yurihonjō, Sakata	Northern terminus of E46; Akita Expressway continues north as E7
		106.7	66.3	6	Akita-minami	National Route 13 – Central Akita, Kawabe
		113.7	70.6	7	Akita-chūō	Akita Prefecture Route 62 (Akita Kitanoda Route) – Central Akita, Kawabe, Taihei
		117.9	73.3	PA	Taiheizan
		122.9	76.4	8	Akita-kita	Akita Prefecture Route 72 south (Akita Inter Route) – Akita Station, Akita Port
		132.4	82.3	9	Shōwa-Ogahantō	National Route 7 / National Route 101 south – Central Akita, Yurihonjō, Ōdate, Noshiro National Route 101 north – Oga Quasi-National Park, Tennō
	Gojōme	143.5	89.2	10	Gojōme-Hachirōgata	Akita Prefecture Route 15 (Akita Hachirōgata Route) – to National Route 7, National Route 285, Ōdate, Kitaakita, Akita, Noshiro
	Mitane	150.4	93.5	SA	Hachirōko
		153.1	95.1	11 / TB	Kotooka-Moritake	Akita Prefecture Route 37 (Kotooka Kamikoani Route) – to National Route 7, Oga, Kamikoani	The toll gate at Kotooka-Moritake marks the northern end of the tolled section of the Akita Expressway
		166.1	103.2	12	Hachiryū	National Route 7 – Akita, Noshiro
	Noshiro	170.2	105.8	13	Noshiro-minami	National Route 7 – Akita, Ōdate, Kitaakita
		176.7	109.8	14	Noshiro-higashi	National Route 7 – Yurihonjō, Akita, Ōdate, Kitaakita Akita Prefecture Route 64 east (Noshiro Futatsui Route) – Happō
		186.7	116.0	15	Futatsui-Shirakami	National Route 7 – Akita, Ōdate, Kitaakita, Shirakami-Sanchi Akita Prefecture Route 317 east (Nishimeya Futatsui Route) – Futatsui	At grade junction
	Gap in the expressway, connection is made by National Route 7 and Akita Prefecture Route 325[17]
	Kitaakita	198.5	123.3	21	Kanisawa	Akita Prefecture Route 325 east (Ōdate–Noshiro Airport West Route) – Kanisawa
		200.2	124.4	22	Isedōtai	Akita Prefecture Route 197 (Kidoishi–Takanosu Route) – Kidoishi, Isedōtai Ruins
		203.8	126.6	23	Ōdate-Noshiro Airport	Akita Prefecture Route 324 (Ōdate-Noshiro Airport East Route) – to National Route 285, Kazuno, Hinai Akita Prefecture Route 325 (Ōdate-Noshiro Airport West Route) – to National Route 7, Noshiro, Futatsui
		205.5	127.7	24	Takanosu	National Route 105 (Takanosu Bypass) – to National Route 7, Central Takanosu, Ōdate, Akita, Kakunodate
	Kitaakita–Ōdate border	208.7 211.0	129.7 131.1	Matoyama Tunnel
	Ōdate	217.7	135.3	25	Niida-Manaka	Akita Prefecture Route 52 (Hinai Tashiro Route) – to National Route 7, National Route 285, Ōdate, Hayaguchi, Hinai, Ōdate Industrial Area
		220.3	136.9	26	Ōdate-minami	National Route 103 (Ōdate-Minami Bypass) – Towada, Kazuno, Ōdate, Noshiro, Kitaakita
		224.9	139.7	27	Ōdate-kita	National Route 7 – Central Ōdate, Hirosaki, Hirakawa
		226.5	140.7	PA	Shakanai
		229.7– 231.5	142.7– 143.8	Ōshigenai Daiichi Tunnel
		231.7– 234.7	144.0– 145.8	Ōshigenai Daini Tunnel
		235.2– 237.7	146.1– 147.7	Yukisawa Daiichi Tunnel
	Ōdate–Kosaka border	237.9 239.7	147.8 148.9	Yukisawa Daini Tunnel
	Kosaka	240.5	149.4	28 / TB	Kosaka-kita	Unnamed municipal-maintained road – Kosaka	Northern end of free section; Kosaka-bound exit, Ōdate-bound entrance only
		241.0	149.8	–	Kosaka	Tōhoku Expressway – Aomori, Morioka, Sendai	Northern terminus; E4 exit 49-2
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Electronic toll collection       Incomplete access       Route transition       Unopened

See also

• Japan portal
• Roads portal