Revision of "Highway Snowstorm Countermeasure Manual": Focus on Snowbreak Woods

Hokkaido is a cold, snowy region located in the northernmost part of Japan and depends heavily on automobiles for transportation in daily life and socioeconomic activity. Forty percent of recent road closures on national highways in Hokkaido have been caused by snowstorms, including large-scale phenomena in which significant numbers of vehicles were stranded for extended periods. Such incidents adversely affect socioeconomic activity in the region. The Hokkaido Regional Development Bureau, which manages national highways in Hokkaido, published the first edition of the "Highway Snowstorm Countermeasure Manual" in 1990 as a collection of technical criteria for facilities to control blowing snow. The publication was revised in 2003. However, over seven years have passed since the last revision, and user demand has grown for the manual to reflect new findings and blowing-snow control technologies. Against this backdrop, the Civil Engineering Research Institute for Cold Region (CERI) spent 3 years revising the publication from 2008 onward. This document provides an overview of the revised "Highway Snowstorm Countermeasure Manual," with particular emphasis on snowbreak woods.