Changes for Road Policies through Recovery and Reconstruction from the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake brought about changes in road policies and to gain useful insights to incorporate when facing recovery and reconstruction from expected future disasters.

From the discussions on road openings enabling support recovery, it was found that the experience of road opening in the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered the prefectural and national governments to formulate road opening plans.

From the discussions on road projects supporting reconstruction, it was found that the construction and operation of reconstruction roads and reconstruction-support roads after the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered the implementation of disaster prevention functions in road project evaluation.

In the future, the environment for implementing road policies is expected to become more difficult, but it is precisely because of this environment that the useful experience of the Great East Japan Earthquake should be incorporated effectively into future road policies while continuing necessary changes.