Message from the researcher

Message from the researcher

Dear Friends,
The Tokyo Olympic 1964 gave the great hope to Japanese people as a symbol of Japanese economy’s recovery from the World War II. At that time, I was in grade 6 of the elementary school, and even now I distinctly remember that I was in an auditorium to cheer for Abebe Bikila, who had a speed that no one could stay with him, and for Kimihara Kenji and Hillary’s death battle in front of the goal in the marathon competition.
Organizing the Tokyo Olympic was a chance for the road infrastructure (such as the Tokaido Shinkansen, the Metropolitan Expressway, the Hanshin Expressway and so on) to be developed, and for the domestic road to change from gravel to asphalt pavement. These road infrastructures built for that occasion are already about to be 50 years old. On the other hand, the development of road infrastructure in the Hokuriku region started later by almost ten years since the Hokuriku Expressway and the Noto Expressway were opened in the early 1975s.
Unfortunately, the falling accident of concrete panels in the Sasago tunnel in 2013 made a great shock to Japanese people. Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Ohta, declared the “first year of maintenance” and obligated the administrator to inspect the road infrastructure (bridges, tunnels, and so on) once every five years in accordance with the revision of the “Road Basic Law”, which is the basis of road management.
In response to this, three prefectures in Hokuriku region also launched the “Road Maintenance Conference” in 2014 and decided to tackle the problem of “countermeasure for the deterioration of the infrastructure (lifetime extension)”.
In this background, “Resolution of Early-aged Deterioration Mechanism in Concrete Bridges and Development of Total Management System Based on Evaluation for Material and Structure Quality Performance ” applied from Kanazawa University was adopted in the SIP (Strategic Innovation Promotion Program) [Infrastructure maintenance–Renovation–Management technology] of Council for Science, Technology and Innovation of Cabinet Office (CSTI) in November 2014.
The road infrastructure of Hokuriku region is significantly affected by the early-aged deterioration due to salt damage and Alkali-Silica Reaction (ASR). Therefore, how to take the maintenance of these infrastructures efficiently in a severe situation, where all of the financial resources, human resources, and technologies are insufficient, becomes an urgent issue.
The features of this project are the development of new technologies for inspection – diagnosis, monitoring, evaluation, countermeasures – renovation and the construction of maintenance management system covering them as an economical and effective maintenance method for the infrastructure of Hokuriku region.
Therefore, for being a model case of local road bridges, firstly it is necessary to establish a research and development system emphasizing the industry-academia-government-people. Fortunately, in Hokuriku region, “Hokuriku road research group” focusing on the government-academia-people collaboration and “Hokuriku Concrete Diagnostician Association” focusing on the industry-academia-people have been operated actively for a long time. We expect to receive full support and cooperation from both organizations in the exchange of human resources and technologies.
Finally, when starting a new research and development project at SIP of Kanazawa University, we always remember the spirit of the challenge. The industry-academia-government-people organization will work together and make an effort to solve the problem.
Thank for your supports and cooperation on this project.