Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line

The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line (東京湾アクアライン, Tōkyō-wan Akua-rain^[9]), also known as the Trans-Tokyo Bay Expressway, is an expressway that is mainly made up of a bridge–tunnel combination across Tokyo Bay in Japan. It connects the city of Kawasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture with the city of Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, and forms part of National Route 409. With an overall length of 23.7 km, it includes a 4.4 km bridge and 9.6 km tunnel underneath the bay—the fourth-longest underwater tunnel in the world.^[10]

Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line Expressway
東京湾アクアライン
The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line highlighted in red
Route information
Length	23.7 km (14.7 mi)
Existed	1997–present
Component highways	National Route 409
Major junctions
West end	Kawasaki Ukishima Junction Shuto Expressway Bayshore Route in Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Section 1
East end	Kisarazu Interchange Ken-Ō Expressway in Kisarazu, Chiba
Location
Country	Japan
Highway system
National highways of Japan Expressways of Japan

Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line 東京湾アクアライン
Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line (bridge section)
Coordinates	35°27′47″N 139°52′31″E
Carries	4 lanes of National Route 409[1]
Crosses	Tokyo Bay
Locale	Kisarazu, Chiba  and Umihotaru Island
Other name(s)	Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway
Characteristics
Design	Steel box girder bridge with orthotropic deck Bored shield tunnel Artificial islands
Total length	bridge: 4,384 metres (14,383 ft)[2] tunnel: 9,600 metres (31,496 ft)
Width	22.9 metres (75 ft)[2]
Longest span	240 metres (787 ft)[3]
Piers in water	42[2]
Clearance below	29 metres (95 ft)[2]
History
Fabrication by	bridge: Yokogawa Bridge Corp.[4] and JFE Engineering[5] tunnel:
Construction start	1989
Construction cost	¥1.4 trillion
Opened	18 December 1997 (1997-12-18)[6]
Location

Tokyo Bay Tunnel

Umihotaru, where bridge transitions to tunnel
Overview
Status	2 in use 1 planned
Start	Umihotaru Island
End	Ukishima, Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Operation
Constructed	Taisei[7]
Technical
No. of lanes	2 (unidirectional) in each of 2 tunnels
Highest elevation	sea level
Lowest elevation	−45 metres (−148 ft)
Width	14.1 metres (46 ft) OD 11.9 metres (39 ft) ID 10.5 metres (34 ft) roadway
Grade	4%[8]

Overview

An artificial island, Umihotaru (海ほたる, Umi-hotaru; "sea firefly," referring to Vargula hilgendorfii), marks the transition between the bridge and tunnel segments and provides a rest stop with restaurants, shops, and amusement facilities. A distinctive tower standing above the middle of the tunnel, the Kaze no Tō (風の塔, "the tower of wind"), supplies air to the tunnel, its ventilation system powered by the bay's almost-constant winds.

Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line.

Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line bridge.

The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line shortened the drive between Chiba and Kanagawa, two important industrial areas, from 90 to 15 minutes,^[11] and also helped cut travel time from Tokyo and Kanagawa to the seaside leisure spots of the southern Bōsō Peninsula. Before it opened, the trip entailed a 100 km journey along Tokyo Bay and pass through central Tokyo.

Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line Highway at night.

An explicit goal of the Aqua-Line was to redirect vehicular flow away from central Tokyo, but the expensive toll has meant only a limited reduction in central-Tokyo traffic.

Many highway bus services now use the Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line, including lines from Tokyo Station, Yokohama Station, Kawasaki Station, Shinagawa Station, Shibuya Station, Shinjuku Station and Haneda Airport to Kisarazu, Kimitsu, Nagaura station, Ichihara, Mobara, Tōgane, Kamogawa, Katsuura and Tateyama.

History

One of the last Japanese megaprojects of the 20th century,^[12] the roadway was built at a cost of the ¥1.44 trillion (US$11.2 billion) and opened on December 18, 1997^[6] by then-Crown Prince Naruhito and then-Crown Princess Masako^[13] after 23 years of planning and nine years of construction. The roadway was conceived during the bubble economy of the late 1980s.^[13]

At opening time, the roadway had the highest toll fee in Japan – a one-way trip costs ¥5050 or ¥334 per kilometer.^[12] Due to its expensive toll, analysts see lower traffic volume than what Japan Highway Public Corporation, the operator of the roadway, expected at 25,000 cars.^[13]

Tolls

The cash toll for a single trip on the Aqua-Line is ¥3,140 for ordinary-size cars (¥2,510 for kei cars); however, using the ETC (electronic toll collection) system, the fare is ¥2320 (¥1860 for kei cars). The ETC toll is reduced to ¥1000 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. In general, tolls for usage of the Aqua-Line in either direction are collected at the mainline toll plaza on the Kisarazu end.

Toll table of Tokyo-bay Aqua Line
(Kawasaki-Ukishima Junction – Kisarazu-Kaneda Interchange)

Type of car	Toll	ETC Aqua-Line Special discount	ETC Pilot Test discount (from July 2009)
Normal cars	3,140JPY	2,320JPY	800JPY
Midsize cars	3,770JPY	2,780JPY	960JPY
Large cars	5,190JPY	3,830JPY	1,320JPY
Specific large cars	8,640JPY	6,380JPY	2,200JPY
Kei-cars and motorcycles	2,510JPY	1,860JPY	640JPY

See also

• List of bridge–tunnels
• Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel
• Busan–Geoje Fixed Link
• Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macau Bridge
• Bataan–Cavite Interlink Bridge