Higashi Meihan Expressway

Naming

Meihan is a kanji acronym of two characters. The first character represents Nagoya (名古屋) and the second character represents Osaka (大阪). Higashi (東) means east; together with the Meihan Highway and Nishi-Meihan Expressway, it forms a corridor linking the greater Nagoya and Osaka areas.

Officially, the route is designated as the Kinki Expressway Nagoya Osaka Route, however this designation does not appear on any signage. In some areas, signs on the route are written in Japanese as 東名阪道 or ひがし名阪道; this is to prevent confusion with the Tōmei Expressway which looks similar when written in Japanese.

Overview

The first section of what would later become the Higashi-Meihan Expressway opened to traffic in 1970. The section from Nagoya-minami Junction to Takabari Junction is currently under construction; it is expected to open in 2010. There are also plans to expand the section from Yokkaichi Junction to Kameyama Junction to 6 lanes.

The expressway is effectively divided into two parts. From Nagoya-minami Junction to Nagoya-nishi Junction, the expressway forms a semicircle around central Nagoya, built as an elevated expressway on the median of National Route 302. This section is built to an urban expressway standard with no parking areas or service areas and a lower speed limit than other national expressways (60 km/h). Tolls are charged at a flat rate (currently 500 yen for a regular passenger car). The remaining section from Nagoya-nishi Junction to Ise-Seki Interchange is built to the same standards as most other national expressways, with tolls being charged according to distance travelled.

The section between Hikiyama Interchange and Ōmori Interchange consists of tunnels that run underneath waterways; vehicles carrying dangerous goods are forbidden from travelling through these tunnels and must use alternate routes.

List of interchanges and features

Nagoya-Daini-Kanjo (Mei-Nikan) Expressway Main Route

名古屋第二環状自動車道

Nagoya Connecting Road