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Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Tokyo Bay Aqua-Line (東京湾アクアライン tōkyō wan akua rain?) is 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 is designated as part of National Route 409. With an overall length of 14 km, it includes a 4.4 km bridge and 9.6 km tunnel underneath the bay - which is the longest underwater tunnel for cars in the world.
At the bridge-tunnel crossover point, there is an artificial island called the "Umi-hotaru (海ほたる, engl. sea firefly)" with a rest area consisting of restaurants, shops and amusement facilities. Air is supplied to the tunnel by a distinctive tower in the middle of the tunnel (called the Kaze no tō (風の塔)) which uses the bay's almost-constant winds as a power source.
The road opened on December 18, 1997 after 31 years of construction at a cost of 1.44 trillion yen (11.2 billion USD at the time of opening).
The Tokyo Wan Aqualine reduced the drive between Chiba and Kanagawa, two important industrial regions, to 15 minutes. Before the tunnel opened, one had to drive a roundabout 100km along the shores of Tokyo Bay and pass through the center of Tokyo. One goal expressed during the planning of the Aqualine was to reduce the traffic through the center of Tokyo, but as the highway toll is quite high (3,000 yen cash for cars), the reduction in Tokyo traffic has not been as great as expected.
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