Local News

Plans currently call for the elimination of tolls on the 665-meter bridge linking the city of Hirado in Nagasaki Prefecture with the Kyushu mainland. Collection of the tolls is subcontracted to the Hirado Tourism Agency, and the fees for this work constitute the agency’s primary income source. The bridge was built in 1977 and the construction costs paid off in March 1996. Bridge maintenance requires an annual expenditure of 200 million yen, however, and tolls of 100 yen have continued to be charged for one-way traffic.