Tokyo's Dinosaur Bridge opens this weekend after 10 years of construction as the world's largest metropolis tackles traffic jams that slow vehicles to half of Japan's average highway speed.
The 2618-metre bridge, whose nickname derives from its shape, will bring 19 billion yen ($A22 million) in economic benefits a year as it almost halves journey times to container terminals in Tokyo Bay. Built at an estimated cost of 113 billion yen, it will carry about 32,000 vehicles a day between eastern Tokyo and a man-made island, where a new container terminal is being built.
The Tokyo Gate Bridge, as it is officially known, will shorten the travel time to the island from the city's Shin-Kiba district to 10 minutes from 19 minutes. The bridge, which weighs 36,000 tons, was built for less than the original estimate of about 140 billion yen, thanks to new techniques and materials, said Koki Hosaka, a civil engineer at Tokyo Ports. It is built to withstand an earthquake directly under Tokyo. (Sydney Morning Herald)
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