File:The Sanriku Expressway was built with tsunamis in mind.jpg

English: Source: Junko Sagara: "Multifunctional Infrastructure", in: Federica Ranghieri, Mikio Ishiwatari (editors): Learning from Megadisasters - Lessons from the Great East Japan Earthquake, World Bank Publications, Washington, DC, 2014, ISBN (paper): 978-1-4648-0153-2, ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-0154-9, DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-0153-2, Chapter 4, pp. 49-53, here: p. 51, Figure 4.2 "The Sanriku Expressway was built with tsunamis in mind - Source: MLIT.". License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO.

Context as given in the above cited source: "Many expressways were built on high ground, providing routes for evacuation as well as for rescue operations. Many coastal towns and communities were isolated immediately after the disaster because roads were flooded or covered with debris. Expressways built on higher ground served to connect otherwise isolated towns and communities (fi gure 4.2). The Sanriku Expressway, a 224-km expressway that runs along the Pacific coast through the Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, is still under construction. About 51 percent of the expressway was open for public use when the area was hit by the GEJE; it helped save many lives. Expressways constructed on higher ground were not damaged by the tsunami. In the aftermath of the GEJE, they provided an evacuation route for residents and enabled the self-defense forces and other emergency relief teams to get to the coastal municipalities that had been heavily aff ected. It also served as an important emergency route for transporting food, medical supplies, fuel, and other relief materials going to local disaster management bases and evacuation centers."

Additional information: Location of 三陸道 山田道路 on this photograph: 39.447755, 141.954971 (39°26'51.9"N 141°57'17.9"E.)