By TAKESHI OWADA/ Staff Writer
December 6, 2024 at 17:33 JST
The iron framework is exposed in a bridge managed by a local government. (Provided by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism)
No action has been taken to strengthen around 10,000 bridges across the country that were identified as needing repairs or other work at least five years ago, the land ministry said.
The figure represents about 17 percent of the 60,482 local government bridges that were described as in “a condition that requires action within five years” during inspections conducted up until fiscal 2018, a ministry report showed.
A land ministry official cited financial difficulties of local governments and a shortage of civil engineers and other human resources as reasons for the delays in repairing the 10,353 bridges.
The ministry intends to support local governments in their efforts to extend the service lives of bridges through subsidies and technical backing.
Bridges that are particularly dangerous have been closed or undergone emergency measures.
Since fiscal 2014, all road administrators, including the national and local governments, have been required to inspect bridges and other road structures once every five years.
The requirement was spelled out under the Road Law that was revised after gigantic concrete ceiling panels collapsed in the Sasago Tunnel in Otsuki, Yamanashi Prefecture, in 2012, killing nine people.
The inspections conducted by fiscal 2018 showed that 66,354 of about 730,000 bridges across Japan were in “a condition that requires action within five years.”
Of these 66,354 bridges, 5,872 are managed by the land ministry or expressway companies, and repair work had started on all of those structures by the end of fiscal 2023. Work on more than 80 percent of the bridges has been completed.
But delays were particularly noticeable concerning bridges managed by local governments. Work had started on 83 percent of their troubled bridges, and repairs were completed on only 66 percent of them.
According to the ministry, much of the country’s road infrastructure, such as bridges and tunnels, was built during the high economic growth period between the mid-1950s and early 1970s.
Nearly 40 percent of about 500,000 bridges whose construction dates are known were 50 years old or older as of 2023.
This ratio is expected to rise to 60 percent in 10 years.
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