Central Circular Route (Shuto Expressway)

Kasai JCT

Ōgi-ōhashi exit

Senju-shinbashi exit

Kohoku JCT

The Central Circular Route (中央環状線 Chūō Kanjō-sen), signed as Route C2, is one of the routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the central part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The route is a circumferential highway running through the outer wards of Tokyo. The route is the middle of three ring expressways planned for the city; the other two being the C1 Inner Circular Route and the C3 Tokyo Gaikan Expressway.

The complete route is 48.8 km in length. Construction work on underground sections of the route began in 1992 with the final section opened to traffic on 7 March, 2015. Given the extensive tunneling and engineering challenges involved construction costs for the route were estimated to be 2 Trillion yen.^[1]

The route is approximately 8km from the center of the city and goes through the wards of Edogawa, Katsushika, Adachi, Kita, Itabashi, Toshima, Shinjuku, Nakano, Shibuya, Meguro, and Shinagawa.

Yamate Tunnel

The Yamate Tunnel forms a key part of the Central Circular Route. A deep underground tunnel constructed beneath Yamate Dori, the first section over 11km in length, was opened to traffic on December 22, 2007. From 2010 the tunnel extended the Central Circular Route south from near Ikebukuro to Ohashi Junction connecting with Route 3. The last 9.4 km through Meguro and Shinagawa was opened to traffic on March 7, 2015.^[2] When this last section of the tunnel opened the Yamate Tunnel formed Japan's longest, and the world's second longest road tunnel.^[3] During the tunnel's first week of operations, traffic volume on the Inner Circular Route was reduced by seven percent from the previous week, and congestion on expressways inside the Central Circular Route (an index measured by recording segments where average traffic speed is less than 40 km/h, and multiplying the affected distance by the affected time) was approximately halved from the previous week.^[4]

The C2 begins and ends at the Bayshore Route, which serves to close the loop.

Exit List

List of currently existing interchanges and exits ordered following the outer loop (clockwise):

Municipality	Exit/interchange name	Destinations	Notes
Shinagawa-ku	Ōi JCT	Bayshore Route
Meguroku-ku	Ōhashi JCT	Route 3 (Shuto Expressway) Outbound to Yoga and Tōmei Expressway. Inbound to Tanimachi from Inner Loop.
Shibuya-ku	Tomigaya C22
Shibuya-ku	Hatsudai-Minami C23
Shinjuku-ku	Nishi-shinjuku JCT	Route 4 Outbound to Takaido and Chūō Expressway. Inbound to Miyakezaka from Inner Loop.
Nakano-ku	Nakano-chojabashi C24	Shinjuku Station, Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office	Inner loop exit/outer loop entrance only
Shinjuku-ku	Naka-ochiai JCT (Planned)	Planned Nerima Route outbound to Nerima and Kan-etsu Expressway.	Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway Corporation plans to connect between C2 and Kan-estu Expressway through Nerima Route.
Toshima-ku	Nishi-ikebukuro Entrance C25	Ikebukuro Station	Inner loop entrance/outer loop exit only
Toshima-ku	Nishi-ikebukuro Exit C26	Ikebukuro Station	Inner loop exit.
Itabashi-ku	Takamatsu Entrance C28	Yamate-dori street	Outer loop entrance only. Inner loop exit has closed and moved to Nishi-ikebukuro in 2007, due to the extension of Yamate Tunnel.
Itabashi-ku	Kumanocho JCT	Route 5 inbound to Higashi-ikebukuro and Takebashi JCT from Inner loop. Route C2 Outer Loop to Route 5 inbound is not connected.	inbound only
Itabashi-ku	Itabashi JCT	Route 5 outbound to Ōmiya and Kan-etsu Expressway via Tokyo Gaikan Expressway.	outbound only
Itabashi-ku	Shin-itabashi C29	National Route 17, also known as Nakasendō avenue	Outer loop exit only
Itabashi-ku	Takinogawa C31	National Route 17, also known as Nakasendō avenue	Inner loop entrance only
Kita-ku	Ōji-minami C33	Ōji Station, Asukayama Park.	Under construction: Inner loop entrance/outer loop exit. This interchange is currently being reconstructed into a full interchange in combination with Oji-kita Rampway.
Kita-ku	Ōji-kita C34	Ōji Station, Asukayama Park.	Inner loop exit/outer loop entrance Note: this interchange is currently being reconstructed into a full interchange in combination with Oji-minami Rampway.
Adachi-ku	Kōhoku JCT	Route S1 to Angyō and Tōhoku Expressway
Adachi-ku	Ogiohashi C35, C36
Adachi-ku	Senju-shimbashi C37, C38	Kita-senju Station, National Route 4, also known as Nikkō Kaidō avenue
Katsushika-ku	Kosuge JCT	Route 6 outbound to Misato and Jōban Expressway
Katshushika-ku	Kosuge C40		Inner loop exit/outer loop entrance
Katshushika-ku	Horikiri JCT	Route 6 inbound to Ginza and Hakozaki
Katsushika-ku	Yotsugi C41, C42	National Route 6, also known as Mito Kaidō avenue
Katsushika-ku	Hirai-ōhashi C43		Outer loop exit/inner loop entrance
Edogawa-ku	Komatsugawa JCT (Planned)		Crosses over Route 7 without connection. Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway Corporation plans to connect between C2 inner loop and route 7 inbound.
Edogawa-ku	Funaboribashi C44		Inner loop exit/outer loop entrance
Edogawa-ku	Seishinchō C45		Outer loop exit/inner loop entrance This freeway stub will become part of Route 10
Edogawa-ku	Kasai JCT	Bayshore Route East to Urayasu and Higashi-Kantō Expressway Bayshore Route West to Shin-kiba and Haneda Airport

References

1. "Tokyo's 47-km-long expressway loop fully opens". The Japan Times. Jiji. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
2. "Completion Date of Central Circular Route". Press Release. Metropolitan Expressway Co. Ltd. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
3. "Planning and Construction - Urban Long Tunnels, Yamate Tunnel". Shutoko. Metropolitan Expressway Company Limited. Retrieved 6 March 2015.
4. 下田, 健太郎 (19 March 2015). "中央環状線内側の首都高各線で渋滞・混雑量が半減". Nihon Keizai Shimbun. 日経コンストラクション. Retrieved 20 March 2015.