The , or , is a partially completed tolled expressway in Japan. It is owned and operated by the Central Nippon Expressway Company. Upon completion, the expressway will form a second

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducin ...

around

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

in conjunction with the Isewangan Expressway. It is signed as C2 under the "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering."

Route description

The Mei-Nikan is a ring-shaped high-speed national expressway built around from the city center of Nagoya. It is a long second ring road for the city, the outer ring road is the incompleted long Tōkai-Kanjō Expressway, and the inner ring route is the long Nagoya Expressway Ring Route. Upon completion, the Mei-Nikan Expressway will have a total length of . The Mei-Nikan runs concurrent to Japan National Route 302, the only exception to this concurrency is the branch route that connects the ring road to the Tōmei Expressway. 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.

History

The first section of what would become the Mei-Nikan Expressway was opened on 23 March 1988 between Kiyosu-higashi Interchange and Nagoya-nishi Interchange as part of the Higashi-Meihan Expressway. The expressway was opened in phases since then as part of the Higashi-Meihan until 2011, when it was redesignated as the Mei-Nikan Expressway.

Future

Construction is underway to extend the expressway south to the Isewangan Expressway southwest of Nagoya by 2020. Upon completion, this would complete the loop made around the city by the two expressways.

List of interchanges and features

* IC - interchange, SIC - smart interchange, JCT - junction, PA - parking area, SA - service area, TB - toll gate, TN -

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

*The expressway is located entirely in

Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...

Nagoya Connecting Road

*Located in Meito-ku, Nagoya

References

External links

Central Nippon Expressway Company
{{Expressways of Japan Expressways in Japan Proposed roads in Japan Transport in Nagoya Roads in Aichi Prefecture 1988 establishments in Japan