One of the four shield machines of 16.1 meter in diameter was in display at a factory in Yokohama for rotation test in preparation for tunneling of Tokyo Outer Ring Road, or Gaikan-do.

The machine, the nation’s one of the largest in scale, will excavate one of the two tunnels of 16.2 km long each under the operation of contractor, a joint venture led by Shimizu Corp. Transport Ministry, East Nippon Expressway Company and Central Nippon Expressway Company have been jointly developing the 1.6 trillion yen underground expressway linking Oizumi Junction in Nerima-ku and Tomei Junction in Setagaya-ku. (2016/09/16)