Damages and recovery of expressways affected by the Off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake

• Published in: Japanese Geotechnical Journal Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 117 - 125
• Main Authors: ABE, Tetsuo, YOKOTA, Seiya, KANETA, Kazuo, NAGAO, Kazuyuki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese; English
• Published: Tokyo The Japanese Geotechnical Society 2012; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Coastal environments; Damage; earth work; Earthquake damage; embankment; Emergencies; Emergency vehicles; Expressways; highway; Inspection; Off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake; Recovery; seismic damage; INW, Japan, Honshu, Tohoku Region; INW, Japan, Honshu, Sanriku Coast; INW, Japan, Honshu, Fukushima Prefect., Joban; INW, Japan, Honshu, Miyagi Prefect., Tohoku; INW, Japan, Honshu, Kanto Region; I, Pacific; INW, Japan, Honshu, Miyagi Prefect
• ISSN: 1880-6341; 1880-6341
• DOI: 10.3208/jgs.7.117

Around 14:46 on March 11, 2011, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake, the largest in our country’s history was recorded off the coast of the Sanriku area in the Tohoku region. A seismic intensity of 7 was observed in Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture and strong tremors were felt in a wide area from the Tohoku to Kanto region, A maximum seismic intensity of 6.3 was observed at Mito-Minami IC on the Kita-Kanto Expressway. After the quake, emergency inspections were carried out on expressways and it was identified that damages may obstruct traffic on 20 routes for some 870 km. However, owing to the efforts of officials and worker, Tohoku Expressway, Joban Expressway and Ban-etsu Expressway, were opened to emergency vehicles by 11:00 a.m. on March 24, about 20 hours after the earthquake. And Tohoku Expressway was completely opened, except for a few sections, at 6:00 a.m. on Marth 24, 13 days after the quake. This paper reports on the damages and recovery of the earthwork portion of the expressways affected by “The Off the Pacific coast of Tohoku Earthquake”.