Due to the disaster of severe rainfall in Southern Japan, some of the area in Northern Kyushu also got serious effects for the traffic.
The details of disaster had been revealed after a few days, transportation systems also started to announce the details of irregularities on their official website.
Following informations are digests of major traffic & transportation in Kyushu area where got effect.
Highway
Following section is closed to traffic
・Higashi-Kyushu Expwy.: Buzen IC〜Shiida-minami IC
Additional closure of traffic for following section due to construction until 20 July, 2018 around 15:00.
・Miyazaki Expwy.: Takaharu IC〜Miyakonojo IC
Official info of Highway – NEXCO West： https://ihighway.jp/pc/map/map.html?area_id=area_09
Legend on the map;
Black: Closed
Blue: Need snow-tire
Green: One-way
Orange: Traffic jam
Grey: System maintenance
×: Traffic accident
□around IC name: IC closed
JR Kyushu Railway
As official announcement on 11 July, following section of railway had been closed due to landslide. The duration of service suspension is unknown in this moment.
・Harida-line: Keisen〜Haruda
*Actually, alternative transportation by bus arranged. But these bus service are basically for local residents such a students. Due to the seats limited, better to re-route or take other traffic.
・Chikuhi-line: Yamamoto～Imari=Recovered service since first train on 12 July
・Hisatsu-line: Yatsushiro～Yoshimatsu=Recovered service since first train on 19 July
■The service suspention for Higo-ozu〜Aso on Hohi-linewhich closed since Kumamoto earthquake in 2016 andSoeda〜Yoake on Hita-Hikosan lineWhich closed since the severe rain disaster in 2017 are still going on and unknown when resume operations.
The service between Teruoka〜Hita on Kyudai-line will be resume since 14 July 2018, Express train “Yufu” ”Yufuin-no-Mori” will be back to normal operation.
Official info – JR Kyushu railway: http://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/english/
Latest info (Japanese)： https://www.jrkyushu.co.jp/railway/
Highway/Express Bus
・Kitakyushu-Beppu/Oita(Need to divert closed area of Highway, should be delay)
・Karatsu-Imari(Operating shuttle service due to the road blocked)
Following Highway bus need to divert due to temporary construction on Miyazaki-Expwy;
・Fukuoka-Miyazaki
・Nagasaki-Miyazaki
・Kumamoto-Miyazaki
・Shin-Yatsushiro-Miyazaki (B&S Miyazaki Line)
・Kagoshima-Miyazaki
Due to this diversion, some bus-stop will be skipped and might be delay.
Refered info – Kyushu Norimono info (Japanese only)： http://www.norimono-info.com/index.php
Digest information of affected area
Kitakyushu city
The sector between Moji and Kokura-higashi had been re-opened.
It is normal traffic around Kitakyushu by car/Highway bus/JR train.
Higashi-Kyushu Expwy to Usa, Nakatsu, Beppu…etc
Due to closure of Expressway between Buzen & Shiida-Minami, need to divert this section.
But this is only about 8km, also usually Higashi-Kyushu expressway is not so crowded.
The effect is not so much.
But if you’ll drive from Fukuoka city area, it is better to choose Oita expressway better than Higashi-kyushu expressway in this moment.
Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto
As official announcement by JR Kyushu on 17 July at 16:00, JR Hisatsu-line is normal operation since 19 July, 2018.
How to check road traffic information
If you drive around Japan,Yahoo! Map (https://map.yahoo.co.jp/mobile/#traffic) is quite useful.
It will show the road which any car pass through (=able to pass through).
Legend on the map;
Blue: There was car passed through=able to pass through
Black, ⊗: Closed
Red: Traffic jam
Orange: Crowded
