mina2 6 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 This may be a strange one, but there's one road that I always HATE driving on. It's the road from Naganohara (near Kusatsu) to Numata in Gunma. Not only is it almost impossible to overtake on the road, it's for many parts winding, with tons of traffic lights, and as there are no alternatives it is often quite busy. There is some major construction going on so there's a lot of being stopped because of all the construction work - as well as all the trucks. It sometimes seems never-ending and takes an age to cover a small distance. Can't think of any other roads that I dislike so much! Anyone else got one? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted July 20, 2009 Share Posted July 20, 2009 Yes I know what you mean about that road mina2, it is slow and tiring. When is that new mega road complete with huge bridges they are building going to be ready? Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted July 20, 2009 Author Share Posted July 20, 2009 It's actually going to be a 130m tall dam, muikabochi - Yanba Dam - and there's a whole load of construction going on all over the place. I don't think we can expect it to be finished in the next few months. Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 You mean there are roads in Japan that are not annoying and difficult to pass on? Haven't found too many of those in Hokkaido. Incredibly annoying when you get stuck behind some damned fool actually doing the ridiculously, stupidly, god damned crazy speed limit in this country or one of those nut jobs who are so cheap arse that they drive a k-car and can't go faster than speed limit even if they wanted to. I mean do they even realise that cars are now a whole lot safer to drive than say 50 years ago and doing more than 50km/hr isn't really pushing these modern vehicles to the limits? Only in a place like Japan where the people blindly accept authority would they put up with such ridiculous speed limits. Imagine trying to set speed limits on all country roads in Australia to only 50 or 60km/hr? Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Interesting mina2, didn't know that. 50 or 60? Many of the roads round here are 40km/h. My road is actually 30km/h! Link to post Share on other sites
Go Native 70 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 Yeah I was looking at the high end, many here are only 40 as well. If you actually sat on the speed limit you could have push bikes overtaking you! Truly ridiculous and only possible in a country like this where you have unquestioning acceptance of authority by a basically brain dead populace. Link to post Share on other sites
grungy-gonads 54 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 30kmh?!? That's actually quite funny. Here we go > Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 on the 237 I was normally doing 80 when I could. On the toll road 120 was cruising. Some people actually were driving at 80. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted July 21, 2009 Share Posted July 21, 2009 I hate the M25 the most Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted September 3, 2009 Author Share Posted September 3, 2009 The new politician folks aren't keen on completing this new road/dam. In their manifest, they said they were going to scrap the plans. Will be interesting to see if they will and what will happen to the massive amount of work already done. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted September 3, 2009 Share Posted September 3, 2009 Wow they going to scrap that in it's rather advanced stage of transforming the valley? Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted September 5, 2009 Author Share Posted September 5, 2009 Lots of locals are against it. Big decision, can only wonder what will happen to all the massive things that have already gone up if they ditch it. Link to post Share on other sites
snowdude 44 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Yeah I used to drive down country lanes back in the UK a lot quicker than they drive on motorways here, so damm slow! Went back to the UK recently, rented a car and was so nice to cruise along the motorway at 140 - 160 k's without having to worry to much about speed. Having said that I still think speed limits in the UK are too slow also, but thankfully not as crazy slow has Japan. Are the speed limits in Japan maybe the slowest in the world? When I went to Florida, many moons ago they drove slow there too! The speed of cars have increased, but the actual speed limits haven't since the first cars hit the roads actually for most countries. Some oldies have told me same speed limits now as before world war one!!! I wasn't around then obviously, so don't know, but wouldn't be at all surprised. For me route 141 between kofu and saku in Nagano, very few over taking places, due to solid white lines for almost all the road. And often get stuck behind some old boy in his k-truck doing 20 kh!!! I could p+*s faster!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 20km/ph you are joking!! That would drive me bonkers!!!!!!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Ctrl-Z 0 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 That Gunma dam thing was on tv this morning. Massive towers the've built there it seems. That's one big decision. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 If I understood correctly, 2/3 of the cost of all that has already been paid. And it would cost a fortune to actually stop the project and do whatever needs to be done associated with that. Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Quote: The land ministry plans to freeze bidding for contracts to build one of the most expensive dams in the country under expectations the Democratic Party of Japan-led government will terminate the project. The ministry initially planned to choose contractors for the Yanba Dam project in western Gunma Prefecture through online bidding Sept. 11-18. However, the DPJ, which pulled off a landslide victory in the Lower House election Sunday, has pledged to "drastically review large-scale public works projects that fail to meet the needs of the times." The Yanba Dam is one of the projects expected to be axed under the new DPJ administration. On Tuesday, Kazuyoshi Kaneko, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, acknowledged that officials were discussing the freeze. But he added, "I would like the next minister to think of the Yanba Dam as an important source of water and from the standpoint of flood control from a long-term perspective of 50 or 100 years." Hiroaki Taniguchi, vice land minister, told reporters Monday that the ministry would "comply with the instructions of the new minister." However, any decision to scrap the entire project will likely face resistance. The ministry's River Bureau stressed that others share its view that the project would create a "crucial facility." "We have received requests for an early completion of the dam from not only officials in the six affected prefectures, but also the mayor of the community where the dam is to be built," a River Bureau official said. In addition, the ministry included 19.4 billion yen--part of which would be used for Yanba Dam construction--in its request for the fiscal 2010 budget on Monday. Of the 460 billion yen required for the Yanba Dam project, 321.7 billion yen has already been spent for such purposes as buying substitute land for residents whose homes would be submerged during construction. Tokyo and Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma prefectures have shouldered 146 billion yen of those costs. Cancellation of the project would require the DPJ-led central government to repay that amount. Under law, canceling a dam project requires certain procedures, such as altering, or scrapping, the basic construction plan. But the same law states that governors in the affected prefectures must be consulted. Not one of the six governors has expressed opposition to the Yanba Dam project. Another obstacle for the DPJ will be local residents who favor the project. The ministry leaned toward freezing the bidding process over concerns that selecting contractors before the new DPJ administration is formed could put the ministry at risk of "being labeled a force of resistance that ignores public opinion and bulldozes dam projects," a senior ministry official said. In addition, the ministry could be required to pay a penalty if it chooses contractors for contracts that are later canceled. The ministry had announced the bidding schedule in a government journal in January. Ministry officials now fear potential contractors will demand compensation from the government for personnel and other expenses incurred when they were estimating the construction costs. The Yanba Dam project was first floated in 1952 as a means to prevent flooding along the Tonegawa river system. With the arrival of Japan's high economic growth period, securing water resources for the sprawling Tokyo metropolitan area was added as a key reason to build the dam. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 get it built, finish it, pay those contracts, let the sharks feed. Get it outta the way. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Long long time ago, talk started about lifting the speedl limit on UK motorways to 80mph. NOTHING has been done about this, instead, 2 million speed cameras have been deployed on A and B roads. Link to post Share on other sites
mina2 6 Posted September 23, 2009 Author Share Posted September 23, 2009 Yanba Dam making the headlines today. Looks like they are pushing ahead with, er, not building it. Link to post Share on other sites
muikabochi 208 Posted September 24, 2009 Share Posted September 24, 2009 Yes top news. They really seem to have messed up the locals there for 50+ years now. Not the same people of course, but still... Link to post Share on other sites
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