Okubo Street Widening Project, that will divide the walkable Kagurazaka

TBS-TV of Tokyo broadcasted the issue of widening the Okubo Street (Radial Road No. 25 of TMG: Tokyo Metropolitan Government) that runs in the middle of Kagurazaka, on 7^th January. They questioned about the road development putting the 2020 Olympic games as a trigger, showed sympathy for those who had to evacuate their properties, worried that the road could divide the district and commercial street, and that the traffic volume of the road was decreasing.

Interview by TV staff on the site. Behind the fence is where buildings were
demolished for street widening project by TMG

           On the other hand, they did not mention on the following issues;

-       It will probably take long years for the road development. Currently only 10% of the land is acquired.

-       During the period, the acquired property will be vacant, surrounded by metal fence. It may be possible to use those land by the support of local ward government.

-       No collaboration or relationship is seen between the road development plan and land use or building design along the road.

In the TV program, the answer by TMG about the reason to develop the street was shown as “smoothen the traffic of some major streets in central Tokyo”. But as shown in the figure below, the traffic volumes of major streets in the area are either slightly decreasing or remain the same.

No appropriate reason is found to develop more streets for automobile, but it is promoted just because it was officially decided, not considering the drastic change of social conditions. What is officially decided as a city plan is only the route and width, and distribution of space can be changed by amending the project plan. The current plan, to make two lanes for each direction should be changed. One lane for each is and will be enough. Widened space, if cannot avoid to widen it, should be used for pedestrians, not for automobiles. In case of emergency, the space may be used for special vehicles. It is possible to design a street in that way.

 Some parts of street have already been constructed or widened. This part, from Korakuen, has few pedestrians and automobiles. Only a few passers feel comfortable, and the district is widely divided into two. We cannot believe that this is an ideal image of Tokyo in the 21^st century.

 The Shinjuku Ward designated Kagurazaka as an area of “Community Development Promotion District” in 1988. In 1991 the “Kagurazaka Machizukuri-Community Development- Organization” was organized by the residents and merchants, and in 1992 it made the “Kagurazaka Machizukuri –Community Development- Plan”. Later in 2003 the Ikimachi Club, a not-for-profit organization, and in 2004 the Kagurazaka Koryukai were founded, which both have been active in the community development and vitalization. With the local government Shinjuku Ward, we citizens have been working on Machizukuri- Community Development- for nearly 30 years.

  On the other hand, the concept of widening of Okubo Street by TMG is to smoothen and speed-up of the major roads. We want to ask you now, who are the streets for? In the central Tokyo, are streets still have to be for automobiles and cannot be for pedestrians? If TMG is going to spend as much as 13.1 billion yen to widen the Okubo Street, it has to be for the citizens and pedestrians who walk on the street.