Urban Planning Decided for the Shimonoseki-Kitakyushu Road: About 4,100 m, 4 Lanes on the Kitakyushu Side (Notified Dec. 23, 2025)The plan for a new road linking Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki has been officially decided
On December 23, 2025 (Reiwa 7), Kitakyushu City, together with Yamaguchi Prefecture, issued the public notice of the urban planning decision for the Shimonoseki-Kitakyushu Road and the public notice of its environmental impact assessment report, and opened the documents for public inspection. Following procedures under way since FY2024, the city says a long-held wish has entered a new stage and that it will work toward starting the project as a new national project as soon as possible.
Key points
- Length: about 3,900 m in the Yamaguchi decision (Shimonoseki urban planning road) and about 4,100 m in the Kitakyushu decision (Kitakyushu wide-area urban planning road). Width 19.5 to 20.5 m (19.5 m on the Kitakyushu side); 4 lanes in both
- Kitakyushu side: starts at the waters off Nishiminato-machi, Kokurakita Ward and ends at Nishiminato-machi in the same ward. Yamaguchi side: from Hikoshima Sakomachi 6-chome to the waters off Hikoshima Fukuura-machi 1-chome, Shimonoseki
- The public inspection period for the environmental impact assessment report runs from December 23, 2025 to January 22, 2026; it can also be viewed on the website at any hour
- The city says it will cooperate with the national government, Fukuoka and Yamaguchi prefectures, Shimonoseki, the assemblies and business circles to make every effort toward an early start as a new project (this has not happened yet)
What to do in practice
- Check in the planning documents on public inspection whether your sites, business partners or land are in or near the planned area
- No timing for the new project or construction has been given, so keep watching announcements from the national government, prefectures and the city
On December 23, 2025, Kitakyushu City and Yamaguchi Prefecture announced that the plan for a new road called the Shimonoseki-Kitakyushu Road was officially decided through the legal procedure. It is a wide road with 4 lanes. But the step that actually starts construction work (starting it as a new project) is still to come.
- 1. Plan decidedWhere the road goes and how wide it is were decided this time (Dec. 23, 2025)
- 2. New projectThe national government and others decide to start it as a project (still to come)
- 3. ConstructionThe road is actually built (timing not decided yet)
Points
- The road is about 4,100 m long on the Kitakyushu side and about 3,900 m on the Yamaguchi side
- The road has 4 lanes for cars
- The decision to start construction has not been made yet, and the city says it will work with the national government and the prefectures to move ahead as early as possible
What the words mean
- Urban planning decision
- Officially deciding, by legal procedure, how a road or town will be built
- Starting as a new project
- The national government and others provide money and start building it as an actual project
- City of Kitakyushu: City of Kitakyushu: Notice of the urban planning decision and public notice of the environmental impact assessment report for the Shimonoseki-Kitakyushu Road
This article summarizes and explains materials published by government agencies and is not advice on any individual case. Rules can change, so for actual procedures and decisions always check the latest original materials and consult professionals such as tax accountants or labor and social security attorneys. English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese versions are translations prepared from the Japanese articles for convenience. If anything differs, the Japanese text and the original source take precedence.