Safety inspections for ageing tunnels urgently needed
21 May 2014Inspections of ageing infrastructure such as bridges and tunnels are urgently needed to promptly work out and implement safety measures.
This is a challenge that weighs heavily on local governments around the country, according to a report in the Japanese daily "Yomiuri Shimbun".
Effective from July, the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry will make it obligatory for bridges and tunnels under the administration of prefectural governments as well as those managed by city, town and village municipalities to receive safety checks every five years.
Local governments are supposed to assess the safety of bridges and tunnels in four stages, and take countermeasures corresponding to the respective stages.
About 40 per cent of bridges throughout the country and about 30 per cent of tunnels will be more than 50 years old in 10 years from now.
It should be noted that it is not the central government but local governments that are in charge of administering 90 per cent of the nation's 700,000 bridges and 70 per cent of the 10,000 tunnels. Local entities must lose no time in buckling down to the task of dealing with ageing infrastructure.
