With the aging of infrastructure progressing, there are bridges that have been closed to traffic for more than a year because no repairs or removals have been made among the bridges that require urgent measures to deal with aging due to inspections mandated by the government. An NHK survey found that there are 265 locations nationwide.
Experts point out, ``A situation is occurring across the country where aging is concentrated and budgets cannot be secured. It is impossible to maintain everything. doing.
"Too many to handle" "Insufficient costs"
In 2012, the ceiling plate collapsed in the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway and nine people died, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has obliged local governments to inspect bridges and tunnels once every five years. It is judged in four stages according to the degree of urgency.
Based on the data of the inspection results released by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in March last year, NHK said that among the four stages of deterioration, which were judged to be "urgently necessary" and "not yet supported". We investigated 343 bridges nationwide.
As a result, as of December last year, it was found that a total of 265 bridges in 41 prefectures nationwide had not been repaired or removed, and had been "closed to traffic" for more than a year.
Furthermore , there are 132 bridges that have
been closed for five years or more, ▽
34 bridges that have been closed for 10 years or more, ▽
7 bridges that have been closed for 20 years or more, and
the longest one that has been closed for 37 years since 1985. As a result,
the fact that road closures have been prolonged
in various places has become clear.
When we asked local governments and others why road closures continued, the
most common answer was ▼ “There are too many bridges to manage” at 96,
followed
by ▼ “There is a lack of funds to deal with it” at 80. ▼ 42
places
said, “Unable to form an agreement with local residents.”
Some of the closed bridges were corroded and partially collapsed, or washed away by typhoons and heavy rains.
Yuji Nemoto, a professor at the Graduate School of Economics at Toyo University who is familiar with the problem of aging infrastructure, said, "There is a nationwide situation where the deterioration is concentrated and the budget cannot be secured, and there is a risk that it will become even more serious in the future. It is impossible to do so, and it is necessary to consider the priority of countermeasures, including the budget, not only for bridges but for the entire infrastructure."
When you visit the site of the road closure...
Of the bridges that have not been repaired or removed and have been closed to traffic for more than a year, 21 bridges are in 2 prefectures and 4 prefectures of the Kansai region
, ▼ 18 in Nara Prefecture, and
▼ 2 in Osaka Prefecture. ,
▼ Wakayama is one place.
Of these, the Old Kawazu Ohashi Bridge in Totsukawa Village, Nara Prefecture, is a suspension bridge made of wood and steel that is 178 meters long and 3.6 meters wide, and has been closed to traffic for more than five years.
In order to prevent people from entering the bridge, a sign was installed at the entrance of the bridge notifying that the bridge was closed to traffic.
In addition, Shimoda Bridge in Gojo City, Nara Prefecture, was closed to traffic after several cracks were found in the concrete of the bridge piers during an inspection in 2015.
There is only a car block at the entrance of the bridge, and there are no signboards or barricades to announce the closure of the bridge.
According to the city, although the state of "closed roads" continues, it is virtually possible only for pedestrians because there are many uses such as local residents.
Bridges in residential areas are closed to traffic one after another
Bridges that continue to be closed to traffic are also in residential areas.
Wadahama Bridge, which is about 8 meters long in a residential area of Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, has been closed to traffic since October.
According to the city, the road was closed because an inspection found corrosion on the bridge girders and determined that urgent action was required.
The reason why the bridge remains closed to traffic after that is that there
are continuing discussions on whether to repair or replace it, and
that there are not enough staff in charge of managing the bridge.
It is said that local residents are saying, ``I want you to be able to pass quickly because it is inconvenient to go around.''
In addition, the Okada River Shimobashi Bridge in the southern part of Nagano City is about 21 meters long and is located in a residential area.
According to the city, an inspection last year found that the floor had fallen off, and it has been closed to traffic for more than three and a half years.
Regarding this bridge, it means that residents in the adjacent district regularly request "I want you to repair it as soon as possible".
The city also wants to repair it, but in addition to managing about 1,750 bridges in the city, there are roads and tunnels, so the staff in charge are not involved.
An 84-year-old woman who lives nearby said, "There are fields, rice fields, and orchards on the other side of the river, and depending on the season, I go every day, so the road closure is inconvenient. Even after the road was closed, I used to climb over the fence to get through. I want you to fix it as soon as possible."
According to residents, the river over which the bridge crosses was flooded by Typhoon No. 19 four years ago.
A 71-year-old man who is the mayor of the district requesting repairs said, "Sometimes people pass by, so I'm making a request because I don't want it to become dangerous. I want you to repair it, but it's difficult. If so, I would like you to remove it. During Typhoon No. 19, various things were caught on the bridge.I think it will cause trouble if the bridge is washed away."
An 80-year-old man who lives nearby said, "I think that bridges with detours and low traffic should be considered including the removal of bridges. No. The worst thing is to leave things unattended, and as someone who experienced the floods four years ago, I think it's better not to have unnecessary things."
The Suehiro Bridge in Yatomi City, Aichi Prefecture, which is surrounded by houses and fields, is about 50 meters long and has been closed to traffic for more than six years.
A man in his 70s who lives in the city said, ``In the past, it was an important community road that you had to pass through to get to the shops and stations on the other side of the river, but since the new bridge was built a few years ago, it has remained this way. I think it should be removed," he said.
There are bridges that remain closed to traffic in urban areas, such as the Ajiro Bridge in Akiruno City, Tokyo, which is located near a residential area and has been closed to traffic for more than a year.
There are also Sendai City, Maebashi City, Toyama City, Nara City, and Matsuyama City.
Agreement with residents and costs are issues
There is a bridge that continues to be closed to traffic without a consensus between local governments and residents.
Shobubashi, located in Takahagi City, Ibaraki Prefecture, is a 25-meter-long wooden bridge that was built at least 50 years ago.
It has been used by people living in the village on the other side of the bridge to go to the city center and as a route for children to go to school.
Until now, it has been maintained by repairing it, but since it collapsed due to partial corrosion in July 2016, it has been closed to traffic for about six and a half years.
Corrosion has progressed further, and now one-third of the bridges have collapsed.
Due to the construction of a city road bridge nearby and the deterioration of the ``Iris Bridge'', the city began looking for ways to remove one and consolidate the two bridges into one.
The city held a series of discussions with local residents toward consolidation, and in 2019 held a briefing session attended by about 25 residents, and presented an estimate of the cost of rebuilding.
According to that,
it is about 100 million yen when replacing the bridge with a concrete bridge, and
about 30 million yen when repairing only the abutment, and the running cost for repairs will be required after that.
Residents voiced their desire to replace the bridge rather than remove it, with comments such as "I want people to be able to cross the bridge alone."
No discussion has been held with the residents, and no response has been decided yet, but the city is continuing to check the condition of the bridge to prevent secondary disasters caused by heavy rain.
Tsutomu Hiruno, head of the urban construction section of the Takahagi City Industrial Construction Department, said, "In the future, managing and repairing bridges will cost money, so I think it's important to reduce the number of bridges to manage. However, from the point of view of the residents, what was there will be lost, so it is essential to obtain the understanding of the residents regarding future measures, and I would like to do my best to explain.”
Various voices were heard from residents about the continuing road closure.
A 29-year-old father with a 2-year-old son hopes the bridge will be able to pass like it used to.
When my father was a child, I used Shobubashi as a school route, but if it was closed to traffic, I would have to take a detour and take a road with heavy traffic.
My father said, "I'm worried if I'll be able to walk when it's a detour. To be honest, I don't want to let people go through the big road because the trucks pass by and the cars are fast. I'll be relieved if the bridge is repaired." .
In addition, a 73-year-old man who lives in front of the bridge feels uneasy about the broken bridge being left as it is, saying, "During heavy rain, the water level of the river rises, so it is dangerous to leave the bridge as it is. I think so," he said.
In Takahagi City, there was also a bridge that was decided to be removed after an agreement was reached with the residents.
In addition to removing one of the two nearby bridges, we were able to gain the understanding of the residents by presenting that the roads that will be used by the residents in the future will be widened and maintained. .
The city feels that the time has come to think about how to improve its infrastructure as depopulation progresses and financial resources are limited.
Mr. Hiruno said, "In the past, there was a time when we built, destroyed, and rebuilt, but now I think it's very important to look at the future image and determine how to integrate it at the right time. Limited. We have to consider cost-effectiveness in terms of frequency of use and necessity within the financial resources."
Some bridges are washed away by typhoons and heavy rain while they are closed to traffic...
There have been cases where bridges that are closed to traffic have been washed away due to damage from typhoons and heavy rain.
The Ushiochi Bridge over the Nagano River in Tochigi City, Tochigi Prefecture has been closed to traffic for more than four years due to tilted piers.
This concrete bridge is 40 meters long and 2.4 meters wide and was built 47 years ago in 1976.
About a year after it was closed to traffic, in October 2019, more than half of the bridge was washed away along with its piers due to typhoon damage.
According to Hiroshi Miura (66), a part-time farmer who lives in a house on a nearby hill, a nearby embankment broke at the time, and the surrounding houses were flooded above the floor.
After the typhoon, the wreckage of another bridge upstream was scattered around the Ushiochi Bridge. I was very scared. I feel that if I had received some kind of response, there might not have been any damage."
Tochigi City, which manages the bridge, also said that the Ushiochi Bridge may have been related to the rising water level.
According to Tochigi City, it takes time to discuss with local residents about whether to repair or replace the bridge, and to procure funds using government subsidies, and the road closure period is getting longer.
It is planned that the bridge will be rebuilt from the next fiscal year and a new bridge with a wider width will be constructed.
Part of the 125-meter-long Sakae Bridge in Yusa Town, Yamagata Prefecture collapsed during the road closure.
The bridge had been closed to traffic since 2012 due to its deterioration, but in June last year, it collapsed for about 7 meters and part of the bridge girder was submerged in water.
Yusa Town is in a dangerous state, so we are planning to remove it over the next few years.
The 25-meter-long Osatozawa Bridge in the mountains of Sekikawa Village, Niigata Prefecture, has been closed to traffic for about 10 years.
In the past, it was used by farmers working in the surrounding area, but the reason for this was that there were no more people using it, and that it had deteriorated.
Under these circumstances, the bridge piers were washed away by the heavy rain disaster that occurred in August last year.
According to Sekikawa Village, the downstream impact of the outflow of the bridge has not been confirmed.
If you ask a local government that can't repair or remove...
Many local governments are unable to repair or remove bridges that the government has determined to require urgent action due to budget and labor shortages.
In Uda City, Nara Prefecture, four of the approximately 500 bridges managed by the city were deemed to require urgent action.
The four bridges are located in the mountains away from residential areas and few people use them, but the government is requesting that immediate measures be taken.
The city has decided to either repair or remove the four bridges, but due to the limited budget, for the time being, priority will be given to repairing the bridges that are used by local residents on a daily basis and have heavy traffic. All of them have been postponed, such as closing the road from 2018.
There is also a shortage of staff engaged in bridge maintenance and management.
Several staff members routinely carry out inspections of bridges in various parts of the city. It means that it is not rotating.
Tatsuya Hanamoto, head of the Uda City Construction Division, said, "It's difficult to repair all of them at once because we have a limited amount of money and manpower. We have no choice but to prioritize bridges with heavy traffic so that they don't affect the lives of citizens. We would like to work to respond to the safety and security of citizens within limited resources."
Local governments abandoning bridges
Some local governments are beginning to stop maintaining and managing bridges because they are unable to repair or remove them, even though they are judged to require urgent action.
Located in the mountains of Shinshiro City, Aichi Prefecture, the city road Suyama Line's "No. 5 Bridge" is a reinforced concrete and stone bridge with a length of 3 meters and a width of 2.4 meters.
According to the city, it is unknown when this bridge was built, but it is believed that it was originally built to connect villages.
During the 2017 inspection, cracks were found in the foundation, and according to the city's estimate, the repair cost is expected to be 37.5 million yen. remains installed.
Under these circumstances, the city decided to abolish the bridge as a city road and remove it from the once-in-five-years inspections, as it would become more difficult to maintain and manage the bridge in the future. rice field.
The bridge will remain intact on city property.
Last month, the residents of the district agreed, and they are preparing to submit a bill for abolition to the regular assembly in March.
Mitsuyasu Amano, head of the construction department of Shinshiro City, said, “We have to manage many bridges with a limited budget. I think letting go of bridges that don't exist is one option."
In addition, the village is considering letting go of the "Fukasawa No. 1 Bridge" in the national forest of Sakegawa Village, Yamagata Prefecture.
The 8.5-meter-long, 4-meter-wide bridge was built by the government in 1964 to preserve the forest, but it is managed by the village as part of the village road.
Due to the heavy rain in 2018, earth and sand flowed in from the nearby mountains, and the part called the "floor slab" that supports the road surface slipped about 15 centimeters, and until now it has been closed to traffic.
However, the person in charge of the village says, "It seems that some people pass by to pick wild vegetables."
The village wants to transfer management to the Forestry Agency, which has jurisdiction over the forest, because it lacks financial resources such as repairs.
In 2020, a 30-centimeter hole was found in the floor slab of the Sosue Kamibashi Bridge in Maniwa City, Okayama Prefecture, and the bridge has been closed to traffic for nearly two and a half years.
According to the city, there is a request to use it for forestry work, so it is considering transferring it to local residents as one of the options.
Reduce costs by introducing new methods
With limited budgets and manpower, some local governments are trying to continue the maintenance and management of bridges as before by introducing new methods.
Tawaramoto Town, located in the northern part of Nara Prefecture, is located in the central part of the Nara Basin, and the main highways connecting the northern and southern parts of the prefecture pass through the town.
Repairing bridges in various parts of the city with heavy traffic is an important issue, but we have been troubled by the increase in costs year by year.
In order to improve this situation and maintain the bridge in the future, the town adopted a method called "ECI method" for the first time in the prefecture three years ago, in which the construction contractor is involved from the design stage.
Until now, in bridge repair work, if there was something unclear about the structure of the bridge, etc., the work would be temporarily stopped and the designer and the town would check it one by one, but this would lengthen the construction period.
On the other hand, in the method newly adopted by the town, the designer and the contractor work together to carry out repairs, such as having the designer attend the site.
By doing this, in addition to being able to proceed with the construction efficiently, the necessary materials that were duplicated in design and construction were shared, which meant that unnecessary costs could be eliminated.
Furthermore, until now, the town had divided the inspection and design work into orders for each fiscal year, making the clerical work complicated. Did.
According to the town, by introducing these methods
▼ the time required for repairs has been cut in half, and
▼ the total project cost has been reduced by about 5%.
Kazushige Morito, assistant manager of the Tawaramoto Town Town Development Construction Division, said, "We want to maintain the convenience and safety of the townspeople's lives by proceeding with repairs quickly."
Expert: "It is impossible to maintain all infrastructure"
Professor Yuji Nemoto of the Graduate School of Economics, Toyo University, who is familiar with the problem of aging infrastructure, commented on the fact that bridges remain closed all over the country, saying, ``Currently, the deterioration of infrastructure is occurring intensively. As a result, the budget cannot be secured, and the situation is occurring throughout the country where repairs and removals are not possible.
Regarding the future, he said, ``In the 1970s, 10,000 bridges were built annually, and if concrete has a service life of 60 years, 10,000 bridges will have to be replaced by 2030. , It is thought that it will become more serious in the future, and it is impossible to maintain everything."
On top of that, when asked about how to respond, he said, ``In Japan, when the population is declining, aging infrastructure is occurring intensively. In addition to bridges, it is necessary to consider the budget for other infrastructure such as roads and prioritize them."
He also said that it is necessary to change the awareness of users, saying, "It is important to think from the perspective of what can be done to make the whole region sustainable, rather than from the perspective of one's own convenience."
(Kansai Investigative Reporting Team)
Kobe Broadcasting Station Kazumasa Oda / Nara Broadcasting Station Chitose Yashiro / Wakayama Broadcasting Station Keiichiro Ito / Osaka Broadcasting Station Hiroaki Fukushima Keita Ohno Keita Suzuriko Shinya Fujishima