Japan Press Weekly

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2016 October 19 - 25 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

141 bridges discovered to be unsafe for traffic

More and more bridges and tunnels across the country are becoming old and in need of repair, and in some cases posing threats to traffic safety. The central government did not pay due attention to this problem until recent years and are still reluctant to spend enough money to address the issue, Akahata reported on October 24.

The Transport Ministry in September published a survey result that among bridges that underwent safety checks in FY2015, 141 were discovered to be at stage 4 of the 4-point danger scale. The ministry announced that the bridges and tunnels at stage 4 need to be closed.

In the same survey, 130 municipal bridges and five municipal tunnels were also found to be at stage 4. One national bridge was found to require suspension. Of those overseen by prefectures or the 20 major cities, ten bridges and one tunnel were at stage 4 as well. In addition, 9,420 municipal bridges and 39 municipal tunnels were categorized as stage 3, which means that they need to be repaired without delay. As much as 34% of the tunnels surveyed turned out to be at stage 3.

Despite such a situation, many municipalities are slow to take necessary measures. An official of Oita’s Yufu City government which oversees 277 bridges told Akahata that the city has difficulties in making repair work for financial reasons. The official added that the city can apply for a state subsidy for overhauls, but the city has to shoulder half of the cost.

Even if a municipality applies for the subsidy, its application may be rejected. A Transport Ministry official said that the total amount of money needed to approve all the applications increased from 1.2 trillion yen in FY2013 to 2 trillion yen in FY2016, but the amount of the subsidy budget remained almost unchanged during the same period of time. The official said that financial resources available lag behind the demand.

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Motomura Nobuko pointed out that many bridges and tunnels have been poorly maintained because municipalities are facing shortages of funds and workers. She cited an estimate that more than 200 trillion yen will be needed to maintain infrastructures in next 50 years. Motomura stressed that the government should spend more money on repair work rather than on large-scale public-works projects, such as the construction of the maglev super express railway.

Past related articles:
> 30% cut in maintenance budget kills 9 in tunnel accident [December 19, 2012]
> Operator of collapsed tunnel prioritized profits over safety [December 6, 2012]