### c. Developing quality walking spaces

The MLIT supports the development of pedestrian roads and rest facilities that create high quality pedestrian environments and that also tie together rich scenery and abundant nature with historical sites, in order to develop regions that are attractive and that promote health through walking.

### d. Developing road signs that are easy to understand

The MLIT is working on the installation of road signs that are easy to understand to help guide pedestrians who are in an unfamiliar place to their destinations.

### e. Building a flexible system of road administration

To implement a flexible system of road administration that provides a diversity of road functions tailored to the needs of the local residents -- including safe walking spaces and places of regional buoyancy and human exchange, and making motor-vehicle traffic smoother and safer -- the MLIT is implementing: (a) preferential measures, such as the construction of new sidewalks on national or prefectural highways by municipalities other than the designated cities; (b) a system for suggesting that municipalities refurbish pedestrian safety facilities; (c) preferential measures for road occupancy, such as boulevard trees planted by NPOs or others, street lamps, etc.; and (d) preferential measures for the administration of off-street convenience facilities to keep roads and roadside facilities under integrated management.

## Section 3 Realizing Traffic with Enhanced Convenience

## (1) Advancing implementation of integrated urban/regional traffic strategies

Intensive city planning that ensures safe, smooth traffic requires a cross-sectional approach to the available transportation modes—such as cycling, railway, and bus—from users' standpoint, rather than reviewing the transportation modes or their operators individually. To this end, each local government should inaugurate a council composed of public transportation operators and other stakeholders and let the council define a future vision of its cities and regions, and the types of transportation services to be made available, so that it can formulate “Integrated Urban/Regional Transportation Strategies” that cover relevant traffic measures and working programs (as of March 2016, Integrated Urban/Regional Transport Strategies had been formulated or were being formulated in 82 cities), with the stakeholders taking their respective shares of responsibility for implementing measures or projects. The national government is expected to support the implementation of integrated and strategic packages of traffic projects, such as the development of LRT $ ^{Note} $ pursued according to the Strategies, and city planning programs.

## (2) Approaches to improve public transportation usage environment

For local public transportation, the MLIT supports the deployment of LRT, BRT, IC cards and other less constrained systems through the implementation of regional public transportation assurance, maintenance and improvement projects, to accelerate the improvement of regional public transportation usage environment as part of its barrier-free community planning effort. In FY 2015, Hiroshima Electric Railway Company deployed light rail vehicles.

## (3) Upgrading urban railway networks

Urban railway networks have upgraded to a considerable extent to date as they have been refurbished with a primary view to building up their transportation capacities to ease traffic congestion. As a result, traffic congestion in the major metropolitan areas during commuting to and from office or school by train is on the decline, keeping pace with the continuing trends towards an aging population with fewer births. The rate of congestion on some routes, however, remains as high as over 180% and demands continued efforts to mitigate congestion. Efforts in progress include quadruple tracking of Odakyu Electric Railway’s Odawara Line and modifications to Tokyu’s Toyoko Line, both funded by the Designated Urban Railway Development Reserve Program.

The Kanagawa Eastern lines (Sotetsu - JR/Tokyu Through line) and others have been developed by leveraging the “Act