Current State of Roads

There are approximately 700 km of arterial high-standard highways and 88,000 km of ordinary roads in Hokkaido. Of these ordinary roads, 7,000 km are national highways, 12,000 km are prefectural highways, and the remaining 70,000 km are roads administered by local municipalities. Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau is in charge of administrative works such as construction, renovation, maintenance and disaster restoration of national highways, and a part of arterial high-standard highways.

Total length of roads

Road type Road type (km) Remarks
Nationwide (A) Hokkaido (B) B/A (%) Administered by the Development Bureau (C) C/A (%)
Arterial high-standard highways 9,073 790 8.7 223 2.5 Hokkaido Longitudinal Expressway
397km

Hokkaido Traverse Expressway
163km

National motor highways paralleling national expressways
52km
National expressways 7,422(636) 560(52) 7.6 0(52) 0.6
Honshu-Shikoku Expressway 164 - - - -
National motor highways 851 178 20.9 171 20.1
National highways 54,265 6,542 12.1 6,542 12.1 Number of routes: 48 routes
Prefectural highways 129,139 11,724 9.1 - - Number of routes: 882 routes
Major regional highways 57,821 4,512 7.8 - - Number of routes: 157 routes
Ordinary roads 71,318 7,212 10.1 - - Number of routes: 725 routes
Municipal roads 1,002,185 70,171 7.0 - - Number of routes: 112,839 routes
Total length of ordinary roads 1,185,590 88,437 7.5 6,542 0.6  
Notes:
*The data on total road length of Japan and Hokkaido are derived from Annual Road Statistics 2006 (as of April 1, 2005), other data from Report on Current Status of Roads (as of April 1, 2006).
*The data on arterial high-standard highways are as of the end of March 2007. Numbers in brackets represent the length of ordinary national highways paralleling national expressways, for reference. They are included in the length of arterial high-standard highways.

Current construction status of arterial high-standard highways

Arterial high standard highway networks are exclusive to automobiles, designed to promote nationwide high-speed transport services, and to strengthen the connections among important bases such as major cities, airports and ports. The government decision was made on June 26, 1987, to designate 14,000-km-long arterial high-standard highway networks, based on the proposal from Road Council.

(km)
  Nationwide Hokkaido
Planned length of arterial high-standard highways 14,000 1,825
National expressways - -
Planned routes 11,520 1,375
Under basic planning 10,607 1,024
Under construction 9,342 889
Routes in service 7,422 560
Honshu-Shikoku Expressway 180 -
National highways 2,300 450
Total length of arterial high-standard highways in service 9,073 790
As of March 31, 2007

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