# Hidaka Expressway

The Hidaka Expressway (Japanese: 日高自動車道（ひだかじどうしゃどう）, Hepburn: Hidaka Jidōsha-dō) is a partially tolled expressway in Iburi Subprefecture and Hidaka Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. The expressway connects Hidaka to the Dō-Ō Expressway. It is owned and operated by partially by the East Nippon Expressway Company and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). It is signed as an auxiliary route of National Route 235 as well as E63 under their "2016 Proposal for Realization of Expressway Numbering.

## Naming

The name Hidaka is derived from the province of the same name established in 1869, which in turn was named after an unknown country "in the Eastern wilds" called Hitakami in the Nihonshoki, a history book written in 720. There is no direct connection between the Hitakami of the Nihonshoki and the modern Hidaka Subprefecture.

## Route description
### Lane configuration

| Section | Total lanes = Westbound lanes + Eastbound Lanes | Speed limit | Toll |
| Tomakomai-higashi IC – Numanohata-nishi IC | 4=2+2 | 100 km/h | Yes |
| Numanohata-nishi IC – Numanohata-higashi IC | 2=1+1 ※partially, 4=2+2 | 80 km/h | No |
| Numanohata-higashi IC – Atsuma IC | 4=2+2 | 100 km/h | No |
| Atsuma IC – Hidaka Atsuga IC | 2=1+1 ※partially, 4=2+2 | 70 km/h | No |

## History

The first section of the Hidaka Expressway to open was a 19.7-kilometer (12.2 mi)-long section between the western terminus at the Dō-Ō Expressway in Tomakomai and Atsuma in 1998. In consideration of the effects of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, it was decided by MLIT that future sections of the expressway should follow a path further inland to avoid inundation by a tsunami. This decision has delayed further construction of the expressway.
The expressway was temporarily closed after being damaged by the 2018 Hokkaido Eastern Iburi earthquake.

## Future

Construction of the expressway is to be continued east to the town of Urakawa on the southeastern point of the island of Hokkaido.

## Junction list

The entire expressway is in Hokkaido.
| Location | km | mi | Exit | Name | Destinations | Notes |
| Tomakomai | 0 | 0.0 | 22/TB | Tomakomai-higashi | Dō-Ō Expressway – Muroran, Sapporo | Western terminus |
| Tomakomai | 4.0 | 2.5 | 1 | Numanohata-nishi | National Route 235 – Central Tomakomai, Iwamizawa (Taiheiyō Ferry – to Hachinohe, Sendai, Nagoya) | Eastbound exit, westbound entrance |
| Tomakomai | 7.9 | 4.9 | 2 | Numanohata-higashi | National Route 235 – Central Tomakomai, Iwamizawa | Westbound exit, eastbound entrance |
| Tomakomai | 11.8 | 7.3 | 3 | Tomato-chuo | National Route 235 – Central Tomakomai, Urakawa | |
| Atsuma | 19.7 | 12.2 | 4 | Atsuma | Hokkaido Route 287 – Central Atsuma, Urakawa | |
| Mukawa | 28.1 | 17.5 | 5 | Mukawa | Hokkaido Route 10 – Central Mukawa, Atsuma | |
| Hidaka | 39.9 | 24.8 | 6 | Hidakatomikawa | National Route 237 – Hidaka, Urakawa | |
| Hidaka | 45.7 | 28.4 | 7 | Hidakamonbetsu | Hokkaido Route 351 – Urakawa, Hirotomi | Eastbound exit, westbound entrance |
| Hidaka | 59.9 | 37.2 | 8 | Hidaka Atsuga | Hokkaido Route 208 – Central Atsuga, Shinwa | Eastbound exit, westbound entrance. Eastern terminus as of December 2018 |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Electronic toll collection Incomplete access |||||||