Editing Akashi Kaikyo Bridge (section)

==History==
===Background===

The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge forms part of the [[Kobe-Awaji-Naruto Expressway]], the easternmost route of the [[Honshū–Shikoku Bridge Project|bridge system linking the islands of Honshu and Shikoku]].<ref name=Ogihara /> The bridge crosses the [[Akashi Strait]] (width 4&nbsp;km) between Kobe on Honshu and Iwaya on [[Awaji Island]]; the other major part of the crossing is completed by the [[Ōnaruto Bridge]], which links Awaji Island to Ōge Island across the [[Naruto Strait]].<ref name=Ogihara />

Before the Akashi Kaikyo Bridge was built, ferries carried passengers across the Akashi Strait. A  major passageway for shipping, it is also known for its gales, heavy rain, storms, and other natural disasters.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|access-date=July 29, 2021|title=BUILDING BIG: Databank: Akashi Kaikyo Bridge |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/akashi_kaikyo.html|website=www.pbs.org|archive-date=December 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201220180910/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/wonder/structure/akashi_kaikyo.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The {{ill|Sekirei Maru sinking|ja|せきれい丸沈没事故}} in stormy weather in December 1945, while carrying more than three times its capacity of 100 passengers, killed 304 people, first stirring public discussion on the possibility of a bridge over the span. In 1955, two ferries sank in the [[Shiun Maru disaster]] during a storm, killing 168 people. The ensuing shock and public outrage convinced the Japanese government to develop plans for a bridge to cross the strait.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/674864414 |title=本州四国連絡橋のはなし : 長大橋を架ける |author=Hiroyuki Fujikawa |date=2003 |publisher=交通研究協会 |isbn=4-425-76111-1 |pages=2–5 |trans-title=The story of the Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Project: How the great spans were erected |oclc=674864414 |access-date=July 29, 2021 |archive-date=February 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218202205/https://www.worldcat.org/title/honshu-shikoku-renrakukyo-no-hanashi-chodaikyo-o-kakeru/oclc/674864414 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Investigations===

Investigations for a bridge across the strait were first conducted by the Kobe municipal government in 1957, followed by an evaluation by the national [[Ministry of Construction (Japan)|Ministry of Construction]] in 1959. In 1961, the Ministry of Construction and [[Japan National Railways]] jointly commissioned the [[Japan Society of Civil Engineers]] (JSCE) to conduct a technical study, and the JSCE established a committee to investigate five potential routes between Honshu and Shikoku. In 1967, the committee compiled the results of the technical study, concluding that a bridge across the Akashi Strait would face "extremely severe design and construction conditions, which have no similar examples in the world's long-span bridges" and recommending an additional study.<ref name="Yoshida">{{cite journal |last1=Yoshida |first1=Iwao |title=Basic Survey and Planning of Akashi Kaikyo Bridge |journal=Proceedings of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers |date=1990 |volume=418 |pages=1–15 |language=ja | issn=0289-7806 | doi=10.2208/jscej.1990.418_1 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In response to the report, the Honshu–Shikoku Bridge Authority (now the [[Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company]]<ref name=Ogihara>{{cite book |last1=Ogihara |first1=Katsuya |chapter=Akashi Kaikyo Bridge |editor1-last=Alampalli |editor1-first=Sreenivas |editor2-last=Moreau |editor2-first=William J. |title=Inspection, Evaluation and Maintenance of Suspension Bridges: Case Studies |date=2016 |publisher=CRC Press |location=Boca Raton |pages=40–58 |isbn=9781466596894 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5yXSCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |access-date=September 28, 2021 |archive-date=September 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210928060653/https://books.google.com/books?id=5yXSCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |url-status=live }}</ref>) was established in 1970, which conducted extensive investigations, including sea trials to establish the construction method of a submarine foundation. In 1973, a bridge with a central span of 1,780 meters on the route was approved, but construction was halted due to poor economic conditions.<ref name="Yoshida" />

===Construction===
[[File:Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge h008.jpg|left|thumb|Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, under construction in December 1995]]
The original plan called for a mixed railway-road bridge, but when construction on the bridge began in April 1988, it was restricted to road only, with six lanes. Actual construction did not begin until May 1988 and involved more than 100 contractors.<ref name=":0" /> The [[Great Hanshin Earthquake]] in January 1995 did not do substantial damage to the bridge due to anti-seismic building methods.<ref name=Ogihara /> Construction was finished on time in September 1996.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last1=Kashima|first1=Satoshi|last2=Kitagawa|first2=Makoto|date=1997|title=The Longest Suspension Bridge|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24996048|journal=[[Scientific American]]|volume=277|issue=6|pages=88–92B|doi=10.1038/scientificamerican1297-88|jstor=24996048|bibcode=1997SciAm.277f..88K|issn=0036-8733|access-date=September 29, 2021|archive-date=September 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210929003831/https://www.jstor.org/stable/24996048|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Kyodo News">{{cite web|access-date=July 29, 2021|title=World's longest suspension bridge marks 20 years since opening|url=https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/04/d161a56fc707-worlds-longest-suspension-bridge-marks-20-years-since-opening.html|website=Kyodo News+|archive-date=July 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210729010737/https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2018/04/d161a56fc707-worlds-longest-suspension-bridge-marks-20-years-since-opening.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The bridge was opened for traffic on April 5, 1998, in a ceremony officiated by the [[Naruhito|then-Crown Prince Naruhito]] and his spouse [[Masako, Crown Princess of Japan|Crown Princess Masako]] of Japan along with Construction Minister Tsutomu Kawara.<ref name=":0">{{cite web|last=Cooper|first=James D.|title=World's Longest Suspension Bridge Opens in Japan|url=https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/julyaugust-1998/worlds-longest-suspension-bridge-opens-japan|work=United States Department of Transportation – Federal Highway Administration|access-date=February 14, 2012|archive-date=January 1, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120101152145/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/98julaug/worlds.cfm|url-status=live}}</ref> The bridge was the last Japanese megaprojects of the 20th century.<ref name="longest">{{cite news |title=World's longest suspension bridge |url=https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19980406-1.2.24.4?qt=kaikyo,%20bridge&q=kaikyo%20bridge |work=The Straits Times |agency=AFP |date=April 6, 1998}}</ref>