Kamaishi Expressway

The Kamaishi Expressway (釜石自動車道, Kamaishi Jidōsha-dō) is a partially tolled two-lane national expressway in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. The expressway connects Kamaishi, Iwate on the prefecture's Pacific coast to the Tōhoku Expressway at Hanamaki, Iwate. It is owned and operated by partly by the East Nippon Expressway Company and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The expressway is signed as an auxiliary route of National Route 283 as well as E46 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."^[2]

Kamaishi Expressway
釜石自動車道
Route information
Length	79.5 km[1] (49.4 mi)
Existed	2002–present
Component highways	National Route 283
Major junctions
West end	Hanamaki Junction Tōhoku Expressway in Hanamaki, Iwate
Major intersections	National Route 4 National Route 107 National Route 283
East end	Kamaishi Junction Sanriku Expressway in Kamaishi, Iwate
Location
Country	Japan
Highway system
National highways of Japan Expressways of Japan

Route description

From Hanamaki to Tōwa the expressway is maintained and tolled by the East Nippon Expressway Company. The rest of the expressway is able to be driven without any fees. That section of the expressway is maintained by the Tōhoku branch of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.

The entire expressway has only one lane in each direction, with passing lanes at some interchanges. The speed limit is 70 km/h for the entire route, except for the section between Tōno and Miyamori.

History

The Kamaishi Expressway was first opened in 2002. There was a 10-kilometer gap in the expressway in Tōno and the expressway did not connect to its eastern terminus at a junction with the Sanriku Expressway. These missing links in the expressway were scheduled to be completed in 2018, but were instead opened later in March 2019.^[1][3]

Junction list

The entire expressway is in Iwate Prefecture.

Location	km	mi	Exit	Name	Destinations	Notes
Hanamaki	0	0.0	38-2	Hanamaki	Tōhoku Expressway– Sendai, Aomori	Western terminus of Kamaishi Expressway. E46 continues south along E4 to the Akita Expressway.
	3.7	2.3	1	Hanamaki Airport	National Route 4/ Iwate Prefecture Route 294 – Hanamaki Airport, Morioka
	4.8	3.0	TB	Hanamaki Toll Booth
	11.4	7.1	2	Tōwa	National Route 283 / National Route 456 – Tōwa
Ōshū	23	14	3	Esashi-Tase	National Route 107 – Ōshū, Kitakami
Tōno	35.1	21.8	4	Miyamori	National Route 107 – Miyamori, Ōfunato
	44.1	27.4	5	Tōno	Iwate Prefecture Route 238 – Tōno
	46.0	28.6	Nabekura Tunnel
	55.1	34.2	6	Tōno-Sumita	National Route 283 / National Route 340 – Tōno, Sumita
Sumita	59.5	37.0	Akimaru Tunnel
	60.2	37.4	Rōkandō Tunnel
	64.6	40.1	7	Rōkandō	Iwate Prefecture Route 167 – Sumita, Rōkandō Cave
	65	40	Shin-Sennin Tunnel
Kamaishi	69.9	43.4	Kasshi Tunnel
	73.5	45.7	8	Kamaishi-nishi	National Route 283 – Kamaishi, Hanamaki
	76.2	47.3	-	Emergency Exit	Iwate Prefectural Kamaishi Hospital	Emergency vehicles only
	79.5	49.4	40	Kamaishi	Sanriku Expressway – Kamaishi-chūō, Miyako, Kuji, Ōfunato, Kesennuma	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access        Tolled

See also

• Japan National Route 46