Tokushima Prefecture, Japan Bridges: Kameura Bridge at Naruto Uchinomi Park

November 2013 (34.23385 Degrees, 134.63711 Degrees) Kameura Bridge

Just south of the Onaruto Suspension Bridge is the Kameura Bridge, a six span reinforced concrete haunched girder bridge on tall pier walls. 

Apparently the salt water environment is corroding the reinforcement in the pier. We stopped to see a retrofit project that involved removing the concrete, cleaning the reinforcement, putting on new concrete, and covering the whole thing with plastic mesh and a waterproof epoxy sealant. 

This last photo is looking back at the Kameura Bridge from the approach to the Onaruto Bridge. 

Tokushima Prefecture, Japan Bridges: Kameura Bridge along Naruto Uchinoumi Park by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tokushima Prefecture, Japan Bridges; Bridges across Konaruto Channel (2)

November 2013 (34.1892 Degrees, 134.6125 Degrees) Konaruto Channel Bridges

Three bridges cross the Konaruto Channel in northeastern Shikoku. Furthest to the east is the Muya Bridge, a big steel box girder bridge on hammerhead pier walls that carries the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway. This bridge is 536 meters long with four lanes, and it was built in 1987.

Just west of the Muya Bridge is the Small Naruto Bridge, a four span suspension bridge with an interesting 'A' shaped tower supporting the middle of the bridge. This bridge is 441 meters long with 160 m long middle spans and it was opened to traffic in 1961.

The westernmost bridge across the Konaruto Channel is a 530 meter long three span cable-stayed bridge (also called the Small Naruto Ohashi) with a 280 meter long center span that was built in 1998. I wasn't able to photograph it, but interested readers can view it by using the following link to another website. 

Tokushima Prefecture, Japan Bridge; Bridges across Konaruto Channel (2) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tokushima Prefecture, Japan Bridges; Bridges across Konaruto Channel (1)

November 2013 (34.1892 Degrees, 134.6125 Degrees) Konaruto Channel Bridges

Shikoku Island is separated from Honshu Island by the Seto Inland Sea. The three routes of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project were built to connect Shikoku Island to the more developed Honshu Island and allow Shikoku to better participate in the social and economic life of the country. 

There are three long routes on the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project. The westernmost route is the Nishi-Seto Expressway, which includes nine long span bridges and connects Imabari to Onomichi. We studied the construction of several of these bridges in my blog in July of 2009. The middle route is the Seto-Chuo Expressway which carries both highways and railways and includes six long span bridges. The eastern route is the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway, which is 89 km long and includes some of the longest and most difficult bridges to construct.

Today's bridges are at the southern end of the Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway on Shikoku Island. We'll take a closer look at these bridges tomorrow.

Tokushima Prefecture, Japan Bridge; Bridges across Konaruto Channel (1) by Mark Yashinsky is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.