In early July, infrastructure and transport minister Akihiro Ohata announced a plan to complete three expressways that, together, will link Sendai with Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, in about 10 years.
Although the Democratic Party of Japan won the August 2009 Lower House election and came to power with a slogan "from concrete to humans," Mr. Ohata's plan is reasonable because the expressways will help push the long-term reconstruction of the Tohoku region hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The three expressways consist of the Sanriku Jukan Expressway linking Sendai with Miyako, Iwate Prefecture; the Sanriku Kita Jukan Expressway linking Miyako with Kuji, Iwate Prefecture; and the Hachinohe-Kuji Expressway linking Kuji with Hachinohe — 360 km long in total.