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Keramashoto NP, Okinawa
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Aka Ohashi was Japan’s first arch bridge assembled entirely from short-line, match-cast precast sections. Engineers devised molds for its changing curves; the bridge won the 1998 Japan Society of Civil Engineers’ Tanaka Prize.
Before it opened on June 24, 1998, only small boats linked Aka and Geruma; bad weather made travel—and urgent patient transfers—difficult. Aka Ohashi created a dependable road link onward, via another bridge, to Fukaji Island and Kerama Airport.
Aka Ohashi stretches 530 m, but its centerpiece is a 3-span balanced arch with a 125 m middle span. Continuous box-girder sections carry the road on either side.
To handle Okinawa’s hot, humid conditions, the bridge uses epoxy-coated reinforcing bars, galvanized sheaths and details designed to keep salt from collecting—a thoughtful defense for a concrete crossing over the sea.
Sea turtles sometimes glide through the clear water beneath Aka Ohashi. The bridge is also a fine place to take in the vivid blue sea known as “Kerama Blue.”
