Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway

The Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway (舞鶴若狭自動車道, Maizuru-Wakasa Jidōsha-dō) is a national expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by West Nippon Expressway Company. It is signed as E27 under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism's "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."

Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway
舞鶴若狭自動車道
Route information
Length	161.8 km (100.5 mi)
Existed	1987–present
Major junctions
From	Yokawa Junction Chūgoku Expressway in Miki, Hyōgo
To	Tsuruga Junction Hokuriku Expressway in Tsuruga, Fukui
Location
Country	Japan
Major cities	Sanda, Sasayama, Fukuchiyama, Maizuru, Obama
Highway system
National highways of Japan Expressways of Japan

Route description

Officially the expressway is referred to as the Kinki Expressway Tsuruga Route. This designation applies to the Maizuru-Wakasa Expressway as well as the Chūgoku Expressway beyond Yokawa Junction to Suita Junction.

The route of the expressway connects the coastline of the Japan Sea and the greater Osaka urban area by traversing the mountainous interior of the Kinki region.

Using the expressway to travel between the Chūgoku Expressway, Sanyō Expressway and Hokuriku Expressway is shorter and cheaper than using expressways that traverse a route via the greater Osaka urban area.

The expressway is 4 lanes from Yokawa Junction to Fukuchiyama Interchange and Ayabe Interchange to Ayabe Parking Area and the remainder is 2 lanes. Construction to expand the route to 4 lanes is currently underway on the section between Fukuchiyama Interchange and Ayabe Interchange and Ayabe Parking Area and Maizuru-Nishi Interchange. The speed limit is 80 km/h on 4-laned sections and 70 km/h on 2-laned sections.

History

The first section of the expressway was opened to traffic in 1987 and the entire route was completed in 2014.

List of interchanges and features

• IC - interchange, SIC - smart interchange, JCT - junction, SA - service area, PA - parking area, BS - bus stop, TN - tunnel, BR - bridge

No.	Name	Connections	Dist. from Origin	Bus Stop	Notes	Location
6	Yokawa JCT	Chūgoku Expressway	0.0			Miki	Hyōgo
-	Kami-Arakawa PA		1.5	◆
1	Sanda-nishi IC	Pref. Route 92 (Sanda-nishi Inter Route)	4.3	◆		Sanda
-	Ōkawase Bus Stop			◆
-	Furumori Bus Stop			◆		Sasayama
2	Tannan-Sasayamaguchi IC	Pref. Route 94 (Tannan-Sasayamaguchi Inter Route)	22.5	◆
-	Nishiki SA		25.6	◆
-	Nakayama Bus Stop			◆		Tamba
3	Kasuga IC/JCT	National Route 175 / Kitakinki-Toyooka Expressway	36.5	○
-	Ichijima Bus Stop			◆
-	Mutsube PA		49.8 49.9	◆	For Yokawa, Toyooka for Kyoto, Tsuruga	Fukuchiyama	Kyoto
4	Fukuchiyama IC	National Route 9	53.5	△
5	Ayabe IC	Pref. Route 77 (Ayabe Inter Route)	63.9			Ayabe
6	Ayabe JCT	Kyoto Jūkan Expressway	68.2
-	Ayabe PA		70.7
7	Maizuru-nishi IC	National Route 27 Pref. Route 27 (Ikeuchi Kyōda Route)	76.3			Maizuru
8	Maizuru-higashi IC	Pref. Route 28 (Ogura Nishi-Maizuru Route)	87.0
-	Maizuru PA		89.8
9	Ōi-Takahama IC	Pref. Route 16 (Sakamoto Takahama Route)	100.0			Ōi	Fukui
10	Obama-nishi IC	National Route 27	111.5			Obama
-	Kato PA		112.8
11	Obama IC	Pref. Route 24 (Obama Kaminaka Route) Pref. Route 267 (Obama Inter Route)	122.8
12	Wakasa-Kaminaka IC	Pref. Route 22 (Kaminaka Tagarasu Route)	132.4			Wakasa
12-1	Mikatagoko PA/SIC		139.4		SIC opening in 2017
13	Wakasa-Mikata IC	National Route 27	141.6
14	Wakasa-Mihama IC	National Route 27 (Mihama-higashi Bypass)	148.8			Mihama
15-1	Tsuruga-minami SIC	Pref. Route 211 (Yama Kushibayashi Route)	155.1		SIC opening in 2016	Tsuruga
3-1	Tsuruga JCT	Hokuriku Expressway	161.8

External links

• (in Japanese) Central Nippon Expressway Company
• (in Japanese) West Nippon Expressway Company