Kan-etsu Expressway

Kan-Etsu (関越) is the kanji acronym of Kantō (関東) and the old Echigo Province (越後国) comprising modern-day Niigata Prefecture.

Officially, the Kan-Etsu consists of two routes. Both begin in Tokyo and end in Niigata Prefecture. The Kan-Etsu Expressway Niigata Route consists of the entire Kan-Etsu Expressway from Nerima to Nagaoka, as well as the Hokuriku Expressway beyond Nagaoka to its terminus in the city of Niigata. The Kan-Etsu Expressway Jōetsu Route is concurrent with the Niigata Route until Fujioka Junction, where it branches off as the Jōshin-etsu Expressway and traverses Nagano Prefecture to its terminus in Jōetsu, Niigata.^[3]

The expressway begins in Nerima Ward in the north of Tokyo; the Kan-etsu is the only national expressway linking Tokyo that does not have a direct connection with the urban Shuto Expressway network. A junction with the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway near the origin links the Kan-etsu with other expressways serving northern parts of the Tokyo urban area. From here the expressway follows a roughly northwesterly course to its terminus in Niigata Prefecture, passing through central areas of Saitama Prefecture and Gunma Prefecture. In Gunma the Kan-etsu Expressway provides access to Nagano Prefecture by way of the Jōshin-etsu Expressway at Fujioka Junction, and the completion of the Kita-Kantō Expressway in 2011^[4] facilitated access to Tochigi Prefecture and Ibaraki Prefecture. The mountainous area separating Gunma and Niigata Prefectures is traversed by the Kan-Etsu Tunnel, the second longest road tunnel in Japan.^[5] The expressway then passes through southern Niigata Prefecture before terminating at a junction with the Hokuriku Expressway in Nagaoka. The route is six lanes from Ōizumi Junction to Shibukawa-Ikaho Interchange, and all other sections are four lanes. The expressway parallels National Route 17 and the Jōetsu Shinkansen of East Japan Railway Company for most of its length.^[6]

The first section opened in 1971 and the entire route was opened to traffic in 1985.^[7] On the night of 16 December 2020, about 1,000 vehicles were trapped on the expressway after a trailer blocked it off due to it becoming stuck in the snow. In response, the company that manages the route supplied drivers who were stuck on the road until the next morning.^[8] The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force was also deployed to the expressway to aid in the distribution of supplies to the stranded drivers.^[9]

• IC - interchange, SIC - smart interchange, JCT - junction, SA - service area, PA - parking area, TB - toll gate, BS - bus stop, CB - snow chains, TN - tunnel, BR - bridge

No.	Name	Connections	Dist. from origin	Dist. from terminus	Bus stop	Notes	Speed limit	Location
1	Nerima IC	Met. Route 24 (Nerima Tokorozawa Route / Mejiro Dōri)	0.0	246.2			80 km/h	Nerima	Tokyo
2	Ōizumi JCT	Tokyo Gaikan Expressway	0.8	245.0		IC entrance: Nagaoka-bound only
	Ōizumi IC	Met. Route 24 (Nerima Tokorozawa Route / Mejiro Dōri)
TB	Niiza Toll Gate		↓	↑				Niiza	Saitama
							100 km/h
3	Tokorozawa IC	National Route 463 (Urawa Tokorozawa Bypass)	9.4	237.6				Tokorozawa
PA	Miyoshi PA/ SIC		13.9	233.1				Miyoshi
4	Kawagoe IC	National Route 16	21.2	225.9				Kawagoe
BS	Kawagoe- Matoba BS		↓	↑	○
4-1	Tsurugashima JCT	Ken-Ō Expressway	27.8	219.3				Tsurugashima
5	Tsurugashima IC	National Route 407	29.6	217.5
5-1	Sakado-Nishi SIC	Pref. Route 39 (Kawagoe Sakado Moroyama Route)	32.5	214.6				Sakado
SA	Takasaka SA		34.7	212.4				Higashi- matsuyama
6	Higashi- matsuyama IC	National Route 254 Pref. Route 47 (Fukaya Higashimatsuyama Route)	39.4	207.7
6-1	Ranzan-Ogawa IC	Pref. Route 11 (Kumagaya Ogawa Chichibu Route)	47.4	199.7				Ranzan
PA	Ranzan PA		50.1	197.0
7	Hanazono IC	National Route 140	56.1	191.0				Fukaya
7-1 PA	Yorii PA		63.4	183.7		SIC: Nagaoka-bound only		Fukaya/ Yorii
8	Honjō-Kodama IC	National Route 462	69.6	177.5				Honjō
8-1 SA	Kamisato SA/ SIC		75.5	170.6				Kamisato
9	Fujioka JCT	Jōshin-etsu Expressway	78.6	167.5				Fujioka	Gunma
9-1	Takasaki-Tamamura SIC	National Route 354 (Takasaki-Tamamura Bypass)	82.7	163.4				Takasaki
9-2	Takasaki JCT	Kita-Kantō Expressway	84.6	161.5
10	Takasaki IC	Pref. Route 27 (Takasaki Komagata Route)	87.0	159.1
11	Maebashi IC	National Route 17	92.1	154.0				Takasaki/ Maebashi
11-1 PA	Komayose PA/ SIC		98.5	147.6				Yoshioka
12	Shibukawa-Ikaho IC	National Route 17 (Shibukawa Bypass)	103.4	142.7				Shibukawa
							80 km/h
BR	No.1 Tonegawa Bridge		↓	↑		Length: 784 m
CB	Miharada CB		↓	↑		Nerima-bound only
12-1/ PA	Akagi IC/PA	Pref. Route 70 (Ōmama Kamishiroi Route)	111.2	134.9
SA	Akagi-kōgen SA		118.5	127.6				Shōwa
12-2	Showa IC	Pref. Route 65 (Shōwa Inter Route)	120.6	125.5
13	Numata IC	National Route 120	125.8	120.3				Numata
CB	Numata CB		↓	↑		Nagaoka-bound only
14	Tsukiyono IC	National Route 17	131.1	115.0				Minakami
PA	Shimomoku PA		135.5	110.6
BR	Ōmine Bridge		↓	↑		Length: 784 m
15	Minakami IC	National Route 291	141.0	105.1
PA	Tanigawadake PA		146.0	100.1
TN	Kan-Etsu Tunnel		↓	↑		Nerima-bound 11,055 m Nagaoka-bound 10,926 m	70 km/h
								Yuzawa	Niigata
PA	Tsuchitaru PA		157.5	88.6			80 km/h
16	Yuzawa IC	National Route 17	167.0	79.1	○
TN	Ishiuchi Tunnel		↓	↑		Nerima-bound 1,590 m Nagaoka-bound 1,502 m		Minami- uonuma
SA	Shiozawa- Ishiuchi SA		(173.5)	72.3		Nerima-bound only
16-1/ SA	Shiozawa- Ishiuchi IC/SA	Pref. Route 28 (Shiozawa Yamato Route)	175.5	70.6		SA: Nagaoka-bound only
BR	Nakanojima Bridge		↓	↑		Length: 460 m
17	Muikamachi IC	National Route 253	186.9	59.2	○
BR	Hakkai Bridge		↓	↑		Length: 610 m
17-1/ PA	Yamato PA/ SIC		198.3	47.8
18	Koide IC	National Route 291	204.4	41.7	○			Uonuma
18-1/ PA	Horinouchi IC/PA	Pref. Route 84 (Horinouchi Inter Route)	212.1	34.0
BR	Kawaguchi Bridge		↓	↑				Nagaoka
19/SA	Echigo-Kawaguchi IC/SA	Pref. Route 83 (Kawaguchi Shiodono Route)	220.9	25.2	○
TN	Yamamotosan Tunnel		↓	↑		Nerima-bound 1,838 m Nagaoka-bound 1,804 m		Ojiya
20	Ojiya IC	National Route 291	228.8	17.3	○
							100 km/h
PA	Yamaya PA		230.9	15.2
BS	Katakai BS		235.0	11.1	○
BS	Koshiji BS		238.5	7.6	○			Nagaoka
20-1	Nagaokaminami- Koshiji SIC	Pref. Route 23 (Kashiwazaki Takahama Horinouchi Route)	↓	↑
21	Nagaoka IC	National Route 8 Pref. Route 86 (Nagaoka Inter Route)	244.5	1.6	○
							80 km/h
(37)	Nagaoka JCT	Hokuriku Expressway	246.1	0.0
Through to Hokuriku Expressway

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kan-etsu Expressway.

• East Nippon Expressway Company (in Japanese)