World’s first FLOATING car park accessible only by precarious sea bridge is SO bizarre it attracts throngs of tourists
THIS is the world’s first floating car park which brings tourists flocking across a precarious sea bridge just to glimpse it.
The amazing structure stuck out in the middle of the ocean was created as an ingenious solution to an everyday problem.
Residents of most major cities will be familiar with the feeling of sitting in traffic jams as they search desperately for a parking space.
Automotive overcrowding is a significant issue in densely populated areas across the world and each has its own ways to try and fix it.
In London, there’s pay & display and the congestion charge, while in New York they have a rigid system of residents’ permits.
But in Tokyo, the world’s largest city with 37 million people in its metropolitan area, officials have come up with something a little different.
Finding a space in the city is virtually impossible so drivers have to park up miles out of not just its borders, but those of the land itself.
The idea came into being in 1997 with the completion of the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line.
This seven-mile expressway stretches all the way across the bay, connecting the minor cities of Kawasaki and Kisazaru.
The first two miles out from the Kisazru side is covered by a towering sea bridge, supporting four lanes of traffic.
At the end of the bridge sits Umihotaru, an artificial island which acts as a rest stop for drivers making the stunning trip.
It offers a selection of restaurants, arcades and shops, as well as a vast car park capable of holding hundreds of motors.
The location is so unusual that it has actually become a recognised tourist attraction.
Flocks of visitors pay the £16 toll (reduced to £5 on weekends) to make the journey out.
The stop also allows cars to transition between the bridge segment and the world’s fourth-longest underwater tunnel, which covers the rest of the crossing.
Stretching the remaining five miles to shore, it works on the same basis as the Eurotunnel, except rather than stopping at the border it continues right into the heart of Tokyo.
Air for the tunnel is supplied by the “Tower of Wind”, a ventilation tower located on Umihotaru that takes advantage of the powerful winds that sweep through the Tokyo Bay.
But while the gusts are great for keeping the air circulating in the tunnel, it can mean a nerve-jangling drive across the completely exposed bridge on breezier days.