Buses and cars have a hard time getting around! Bypass to avoid the “Oni Sema Road” will open soon!
Of the “Urban Planning Road Auxiliary Street Route No. 54” under construction in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo, the section from Enoki Intersection to the north side of Tokyo Metropolitan Soshigaya Park will open to traffic at 14:00 on April 23.
The section to be opened this time is only 430m, a short distance that can be passed in 5 minutes on foot. However, the opening of the new road is expected to bring great benefits to many people, including those who drive, those who use local buses, and local residents who walk to the road.
The advantage of opening this section of road is that it allows through traffic on Metropolitan Route 118, which runs parallel 50 m to the south.
East-west travel routes in this area are limited to “Koshu Kaido,” “Setagaya-dori,” and “Tamagawa-dori. This section is on a route that cuts diagonally across Koshu Kaido and Kannana Dori, and traffic never stops throughout the day.
However, this metropolitan road continues to have sections with a road width of about 5 meters around the Setagaya/Chofu city border. In particular, the section parallel to the new road this time has a series of gentle inclines and curves, causing frequent vehicle-to-vehicle collisions. Numerous scratches on utility poles along the road at bumper and mirror height indicate the difficulty of driving.
Furthermore, this metropolitan road is also the route of Odakyu Bus routes such as “Age 20” and “Sei 06”.
In the morning, nearly 20 buses per hour from Chitose-Karasuyama Station on the Keio Line, Chitose-Funabashi Station on the Odakyu Line, and Seijo-Gakuenmae Station enter the “Gekisema Road” between “Enoki” and “Komazawa University Grand-mae” stops.
According to Odakyu Bus, the buses in this section “were operated according to a timetable that prevented buses from crossing each other, while keeping in touch with the sales office via radio. Even so, it was difficult to achieve a situation where “100% of the buses in this section do not cross paths,” and this was a bottleneck in the operation of the bus routes.
Note that large vehicles (over 2 m wide) other than route bus vehicles are prohibited from entering this section. Even so, considering that you will be facing a bus, you will want to steer clear of it as much as possible.
In this area, where residential areas are spread out, buses are heavily used, and even in FY2021, when the Corona disaster occurred, the number of users remained at around 10,000 to 20,000 per day (according to data from Setagaya Ward). In particular, the “Enoki” bus stop is so busy that lines of people waiting to board can be seen even on weekdays. With such a large number of passengers, it seems difficult to replace the buses with smaller buses that are one size smaller.
In addition, most of the current metropolitan roads do not have sidewalks in most places. When I have to walk on this section of road, I have to walk from behind utility poles to behind utility poles,” said a local man who was shopping at a nearby convenience store. said a local who was shopping at a nearby convenience store.
The new road widens to 15 m wide, with 3 m wide sidewalks on both sides. The sidewalks are already passable in most sections, and even before the roadway opened, the area was crowded with local residents and students from Chitose Elementary School, Chitose Junior High School, and Ashika High School.
© Source travel watch
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