Furano Construction

[Guest ___]

Ran across this sign and some construction in the middle of a field near the shrine by the Cheese Craft Center. Couldn't quite figure out why they were building an elevated line here considering how flat the ground is, or why bother, the line along Furano was pretty dead.

[Mudkip Orange]

This looks like an expressway to me.

[bikkuri bahn]

That's construction for the "Furano Road"- which is a bypass route for the existing route 38 highway.  This area gets quite congested on weekends with road traffic from Sapporo and Asahikawa, as well as the increasing number of bus tours carrying tourists from mainland Asia.

 

http://www.hkd.mlit.go.jp/topics/singi/h211125_2_6_1.pdf

[Guest ___]

Rte 38 seemed pretty busy even in midday so that makes sense. Is it normal to build a highway elevated like that?

[Mudkip Orange]

Elevated highway through farm fields seems to be a recurring theme... for instance, here's one in Nagoya, and here's one in outer Tokyo.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a "planning for future development" aspect to it, the same way Houston builds ghost interchanges in anticipation of future suburban sprawl.