Yamate Tunnel

Plans for an expressway on the route were first drawn up around 1970, initially in the form of an elevated expressway over the Meguro River between Shibuya and Oimachi. The elevated expressway plan was shelved shortly thereafter, following concerns about environmental issues and local resident protests, but re-emerged in the 1990s in the form of a tunnel plan. The final plan for the southern portion of the tunnel, approved in 2004, followed Yamate Street and the Meguro River, in order to minimize tunneling under private property.[2]

Construction on the Yamate Tunnel began in 1992. The Takamatsu–Nishi Shinjuku segment opened on 22 December 2007. On the same date, an above-ground segment linking the tunnel to the Kumanochō Interchange in Itabashi and Toshima also opened. The 9.4-kilometer (5.8 mi) section between Nishi Shinjuku and Ohashi opened on 28 March 2010.[3] The last section linking Ohashi to the Bayshore Route opened on 7 March 2015.

An opened emergency exit from the tunnel, located in the median of Yamate Street.

The tunnel has many operational and safety facilities. Among them are emergency telephones and cameras at 100-meter (330 ft) intervals. Fire-safety equipment includes infrared sensors, fire extinguishers, foam sprayers, and pushbutton alarms. Emergency exits leading to a separate emergency path are located no more than 350 meters (1,150 ft) apart. Stairways lead up to Yamate Street. A duct running parallel to the roadway supplies fresh air and removes exhaust. Dust-collection systems are designed to remove 80 percent of particulates from the air.

The Ohashi Junction in Meguro, connecting the tunnel to the Shibuya Route, required construction of stacked elliptical ramps 400 meters (1,300 ft) in circumference and 175 meters (574 ft) in diameter, similar in size to the National Stadium track. For soundproofing reasons, the junction was encased in over 120,000 cubic meters (160,000 cu yd) of concrete. The structure was used as the centerpiece of an urban planning project that includes the Meguro Sky Garden park and several high-rise condominium towers.[4]

Exterior of Ohashi Junction, the 71-meter (233 ft)-tall corkscrew-shaped junction connecting the tunnel to the Shibuya Route.

• Takamatsu Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, near Kanamecho Station
• Nishi-ikebukuro Exit (southbound only) – Yamate Street, near Shiinamachi Station
• Nakano-Chojabashi Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, south of Nakano-sakaue Station)
• Nishi-Shinjuku Junction (interchange with westbound Route 4) – near Hatsudai Station
• Hatsudai-minami Exit (southbound only) – Yamate Street, north of Yoyogi-Hachiman Station
• Tomigaya Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, south of Yoyogi-Hachiman Station
• Ōhashi Junction (interchange with Route 3) – southwest of Shibuya Station
• Gotanda Exit (northbound only) – Yamate Street, north of Fudomae Station

The Yamate Tunnel passes above the Yūrakuchō and Ōedo subway lines. It crosses below the Tōzai and Marunouchi subway lines, as well as the Keiō and Keiō New Lines and the Tōkyū Den-en-toshi Line. Additionally, the tunnel parallels the Ōedo Line along a segment between Nakai and Nishi Shinjuku Gochome Stations. Nakai and Nakano Sakaue Stations, lying beneath the Yamate Tunnel, have escalators that pass between Yamate's two tunnels.

• 西澤丞著『首都高山手トンネル』求龍堂（2007年） ISBN 978-4-7630-0725-4

• Gotthard Base Tunnel
• Sapaesan Tunnel