"Expressway tunnels as well as other infrastructure throughout Japan are nearing the crisis stage," warns a university professor who is a member of an advisory body for the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.
Among the repercussions of the Dec. 2 ceiling collapse in the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway (Yamanashi Prefecture) — the accident crushed three motor vehicles and killed nine people — is the ministry's order to carry out emergency checks of all similar tunnels in Japan.
Besides tunnels, other structures and facilities such as expressways, ordinary highways and bridges as well as railways, city water facilities and sewerage are in a state of extreme decay as they near the limits of the useful life.