Project 07

Tireless efforts — Achievement in sight

Construction Work for Shin-Meishin Expressway in the East and Center of Inagawa

Project Overview
Location

Ueno to Ibuchi, Inagawa-cho, Kawabe-gun, Hyogo

Client

Kansai Branch, West Nippon Expressway Co., Ltd.

Construction period

(Construction work in the east of Inagawa) October 26, 2011 to February 16, 2015
(Construction work in the center of Inagawa) May 27, 2014 to December 1, 2018

The Shin-Meishin Expressway is 174 km long. It links Nagoya in Aichi and Kobe in Hyogo via Mie, Shiga, Kyoto and Osaka. The legal name is Kinki Expressway Nagoya-Kobe Line. On the Meishin Expressway (fully opened in 1965), traffic congestion occurs frequently due to the increase in traffic. The Shin-Meishin Expressway is expected to complement this existing expressway.
This is a project involving multiple tasks in a 2,260-meter stretch of the expressway, which includes the construction of embankments, six bridges (one per direction at three sections) and tunnels (one per direction). Above all, the embankments are as high as 25 meters, requiring the use of 2 million cubic meters of earth. It is one of the largest road construction jobs that we have implemented.

Efficient, high level of quality control with proactive use of a 3D management system

In this project, we use the 3D Embankment Information Management System developed in 2011. Information to manage, including dates and work locations, soil properties, number of times of surface compaction and embankment materials, is obtained by the surface compaction management system, and the data are managed in a centralized manner with 3D block models and a database. This system has enabled centralized management of information and visualization of work, progress of work and traceability with 3D display (aerial view) of the project site. “This system accurately shows how many times we have compacted the surface. Therefore, it contributes to improving quality and reducing reworking,” said Foreman Ueno, who is sure that this system contributes to productivity and quality improvement.

High embankment designed in pursuit of high seismic performance

In addition, a high level of seismic performance, which enables the embankment to endure level-2 earthquake motion, was required in the design of the high embankments for this project. We had to develop a model that fulfills the requirement no matter what embankment material we used. Our missions at this site included doing designing and testing in advance without delaying the process of works.

We overcame a variety of challenges and completed the main road part without issue. The expressway will soon be open to traffic*. “We kept trying to work carefully with no accidents to make the expressway satisfactory for its users. I believe this is a way of expressing our gratitude to people in the surrounding area, to whom we inconvenienced. This project is valuable for society. We want to have a greatly emotional moment when it is opened,” said Mr. Ueno, who has great safety awareness. This is another project site where hands-on capabilities of Nishimatsu are demonstrated.

  • *In this project, the main road was delivered in February 2018. The Shin-Meishin Expressway between Takatsuki Junction and Kobe Junction was fully opened on March 18, 2018.