Meihan Expressway

Meihan Expressway
名阪国道
Route information
Maintained by MLIT
Length	73.3 km (45.5 mi)
Existed	1962–present
Component highways	National Route 25
Major junctions
East end	Higashi-Meihan Expressway / National Route 1 / National Route 25 at Kameyama Interchange in Kameyama
Major intersections	Ise Expressway in Kameyama National Route 163 in Iga National Route 422 in Iga National Route 369 in Nara
Section 1
West end	Nishi-Meihan Expressway / National Route 169 at Tenri Interchange in Tenri
Location
Country	Japan
Highway system
National highways of Japan Expressways of Japan

The Meihan Expressway (名阪国道, Meihan kokudō) is a national expressway in Mie Prefecture and Nara Prefecture, Japan. The expressway is also known as the Meihan National Highway that is a literal translation of its Japanese name. Together with the Nishi-Meihan Expressway and Higashi-Meihan Expressway, it is the central portion of a corridor linking the greater Nagoya and Osaka areas. It is owned and operated by Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and is signed as an auxiliary route of National Route 25 as well as E25 under their "Expressway Numbering System."^[1]

Naming

Meihan is a Sino-Japanese pronunciation of two-character kanji acronym for Nagoya and Osaka (名阪). The first character of three-character kanji that represents Nagoya (名古屋) is pronounced as mei, whereas the second character of two-character kanji that represents Osaka (大阪) is pronounced as han.

History

Construction on the Meihan Expressway began in March 1962, with an intended construction period of only one thousand days. The rapid construction of expressways in Japan at the time was spearheaded by Minister of Construction Ichirō Kōno in preparation for the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. It was opened as a two-lane expressway in December 1965.^[2]

Interchange list

Prefecture	Location	km	mi	Exit	Name	Destinations	Notes
Mie	Kameyama	0.0	0.0	1	Kameyama	National Route 1 / National Route 25 – Central Kameyama, Otsu	Continued as Higashi-Meihan Expressway to Nagoya. Signed as Interchange 33 for westbound exit and eastbound entrance.
		0.5	0.31	N/A	N/A	National Route 1 (Seki Bypass) – Yokkaichi, Suzuka	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance.
		1.7	1.1	N/A	Seki Junction	Ise Expressway – Tsu, Ise	Interchange 34 on Ise Expressway.
		2.8	1.7	2	Seki	Mie Prefecture Route 10 to National Route 25 – Seki Mie Prefecture Route 10 – Tsu	Meihan Seki Drive-in is adjacent to the interchange.
		6.1	3.8	3	Kuga	Kuga
				Seki Tunnel
		8.5	5.3	4	Mukai	Mukai
		10.5	6.5	5	Itaya	Itaya
		11.6	7.2	6	Minamizaike	Minamizaike
	Iga			Kabuto Tunnel
		16.7	10.4	7	Iga	National Route 25 – Tsuge
		16.9	10.5	Michi-no-eki Iga (westbound / outbound) / Iga Service Area (eastbound / inbound)
		18.6	11.6	8	Kamitsuge	Mie Prefecture Route 4 (Iga Corridor Road) – Minakuchi, Koka (Tsuge)
		21.1	13.1	9	Shimotsuge	Mie Prefecture Route 133 – Shimotsuge
		22.4	13.9	10	Midai	Mie Prefecture Route 2 – Shindo, Iga, Oyamada
		23.1	14.4	11	Mibuno	Mie Prefecture Route 49 – Ayama, Shigaraki (Oyamada)
		26.8	16.7	12	Igaichinomiya	Mie Prefecture Route 138 to National Route 163 – Kizugawa, Shimagahara
		29.2	18.1	13	Nakase	National Route 163 – Central Ueno, Oyamada
		31.3	19.4	14	Tomono	Mie Prefecture Route 56 – Tomono, Central Ueno
		32.8	20.4	15	Uenohigashi	National Route 422 – Central Ueno, Aoyama
		34.0	21.1	16	Ueno	National Route 368 – Ueno, Nabari
		35.4	22.0	17	Ouchi	Ouchi, Onogi	Ueno Ninja Drive-in is adjacent to the interchange.
				Iga-Ueno Parking Area (westbound / outbound only)
		38.3	23.8	18	Shirakashi	Mie Prefecture Route 686 – Tsukigase, Shirakashi
		40.4	25.1	19	Hatta	Mie Prefecture Route 687 – Tsukigase, Kasagi (Hatta, Nabari)
Nara	Yamazoe	42.3	26.3	20	Satsukibashi	National Route 25 – Satsukibashi, Tsukigase (Nabari)
		45.0	28.0	21	Yamazoe	Nara Prefecture Route 80 – Yamazoe (Nara, Nabari)
		49.5	30.8	22	Konoguchi	National Route 25 – Konoguchi (Tsuge, Tsukigase)
	Nara	53.6	33.3	23	Ogura	Yamanami Road / National Route 25 / Nara Prefecture Route 127 – Ogura (Muro, Tsuge, Tsukigase)
		56.4	35.0	24	Hari	National Route 369 – Hari, Tsuge (Yagyu, Haibara, Muro, Yoshino)	Hari T.R.S, Michi-no-eki is adjacent to the interchange.
		58.7	36.5	25	Ipponmatsu	National Route 25 – Ipponmatsu (Inoichi, Fukusumi)
	Tenri	61.4	38.2	26	Fukusumi	National Route 25 – Fukusumi (Tenri, Chishawara, Inoichi, Bessho)
	Nara			Takamine Service Area (westbound / outbound only)
		67.6	42.0	27	Gokadani	Gokadani (Nara, Nakabatake, Maitani)
	Tenri	71.2	44.2	28	Tenrihigashi	Nara Prefecture Route 51 – Tenrihigashi (Tenri, Iwaya, Shirakawa)
		73.3	45.5	29	Tenri	Nara Prefecture Route 51 to National Route 169 – Tenri, Nara (Sakurai)	Continued as Nishi-Meihan Expressway to Osaka. Signed as Interchange 6 for eastbound exit and westbound entrance.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access

References