Kobe Route

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Kobe Route (Route 3)

The Kobe Route, or Kobe-sen, is part of the Hanshin Expressway system in the Kansai region of Japan. It runs east to west from Osaka to Kobe and is 39.4 kilometers (24.5 miles) long. The route is maintained by Hanshin Expressway Company, Limited.

Route overview
- Start: Awaza Junction in Nishi-ku, Osaka, where it meets the Ōsakakō Route.
- It travels west from central Osaka and crosses near the Yodo River, meeting the planned outer loop Yodogawa-Sagan Route on the river’s southern bank.
- It enters Amagasaki in eastern Hyōgo Prefecture and meets National Route 43, which runs alongside the expressway toward Kobe.
- There is a junction with the Meishin Expressway (its western end). Direct access to Meishin is limited, with access mainly via National Route 43.
- In Nada-ku, Kobe, National Route 43 leaves the Kobe Route and ends at National Route 2. From there, National Route 2 runs parallel to the Kobe Route through central Kobe.
- In central Kobe, the expressway follows the coastline near the Port of Kobe and connects to the Shin-Kobe Tunnel.
- West of central Kobe, the route curves north in Suma-ku, leaving National Route 2. It ends in Kobe’s ward, then continues west as the Daini-Shinmei Road.

Key history and changes
- The first section opened in 1966.
- The elevated central Kobe section was built in 1969 for Expo ’70.
- In the 1995 Great Hanshin earthquake, 18 spans of the elevated section collapsed. There were design weaknesses, including shallow foundations and insufficient reinforcement. There were no casualties.
- The elevated expressway was rebuilt by the end of 1996, and surviving pillars were retrofitted with steel sheathing to prevent future failures.
- On 18 December 2010, the Kobe Route was connected to the Kobe-Yamate Route via Minatogawa Junction.
- On 31 October 2016, the Amagasaki-Shūya Toll Gate was removed and replaced with a parking area that opened on 19 March 2019.