Regarding the stranded vehicle that occurred on the Meishin Expressway in Gifu Prefecture on the 24th of this month due to heavy snowfall, Central Nippon Expressway President Shunji Komuro said at a press conference on the 31st, ``We deeply apologize for causing such an incident.'' He apologized and expressed his intention to work to prevent it from happening again.
According to the Central Japan Expressway, the
longest traffic jam that occurred near the Sekigahara Interchange in Gifu Prefecture on the Meishin Expressway due to heavy snow on the 24th of this month
was 5.5 km uphill
and 6.6 km down, and it
will be approximately 30 minutes until the road closure is completely lifted. It took 34 hours.
Regarding this, President Komuro of Central Nippon Expressway said at a press conference on the 31st, ``A large-scale stagnation of vehicles occurred on the Shin-Meishin Expressway in January last year, and while we are taking measures to prevent it from happening again. We sincerely apologize for causing this incident."
President Komuro also stated that the reason for the current stranding was that the snowfall continued for a long time at a rate that exceeded previous predictions.
He then stated, ``The biggest issue is that we did not have a sufficient response to the sudden snowfall.It is essential to build an emergency response system,'' he said, indicating his intention to work to prevent a recurrence.
The Central Japan Expressway did not implement preventive road closures this time because the predicted snowfall did not meet the standards, but they are considering revising the standards.