New Bridge Opens in Miyagi Pref.’s Onagawa; Bringing Hope for Local Revitalization

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:19 JST, December 20, 2024

ONAGAWA, Miyagi — A new bridge to Izushima, an island off Onagawa, Miyagi Prefecture, opened Thursday.

The 364-meter Izushima Ohashi bridge is expected to help invigorate the island, which is suffering from underpopulation.

Currently, 90 people live on the island, which is part of the town of Onagawa. The only means of transportation between the island and the town’s Honshu side, where the town center is located, had been the ferry service that runs three times a day. Now, travel between the island and the center of the town is only about 15 minutes by car. The bridge will also serve as an escape route should an incident occur at Tohoku Electric Power Co.’s Onagawa nuclear power station about 5 kilometers to the south.

A project to build a bridge to revitalize the island started in 1979, but it proved difficult to implement due to financial difficulties and other problems. The Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011 increased the town’s sense of crisis over the outflow of its population, and the building of the bridge was pushed forward. Construction of the bridge itself started in 2017.

“I hope the bridge will help bring young people back and solve the manpower shortage in the fisheries,” said Kantaro Suda, 84, who lives on the island.