Ōmiya Route


The Ōmiya Route, signed as Route S5, is one of the five routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the Greater Tokyo Area that are located within Saitama Prefecture. The long radial highway runs north from Bijogi Junction in Toda to Yono Junction in the city of Saitama. It primarily connects the northwestern part of Tokyo and the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway to Saitama and the Saitama Shintoshin Route which serves the central part of that city.

Route description

Route S5 begins at Bijogi Junction with the Tokyo Gaikan Expressway in Toda as a continuation north for the Ikebukuro Route. From this southern terminus, it travels northwest out of Toda, crossing in to the southwestern part of the city of Saitama. Route S5 meets its northern terminus at Yono Junction where it intersects Japan National Routes 16 and 17 one last time and then continues on as the Saitama Shintoshin Route eastward towards the central part of the city of Saitama.
The expressway is paralleled by the Shin-Ōmiya Bypass, a highway signed as National Route 17 which serves as a frontage road to the expressway. Due to this, all of the interchanges along the expressway, aside from the one at its southern terminus at Bijogi Junction, have incomplete access since drivers can continue along the frontage road and eventually find an entry point to the expressway.
The speed limit is set at 80 km/h along the entire route.

History

The entirety of the Ōmiya Route was opened to traffic on 18 May 1998.
In preparation for increased congestion during the 2020 Summer Olympics, new traffic-control systems were installed along many expressways in the Tokyo area. The only instance of further controls being installed along the expressway was at its northern terminus at Yono Junction

Junction list

The route lies entirely within Saitama Prefecture.