Asian Games without Olympic Village, transportation routes complicated, calls for refraining from using private cars inside and outside the prefecture

The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games (opening on the 19th, competition begins on the 10th), in which more than 15,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions will participate, is a ``Games without an Olympic Village.'' As a result, accommodation facilities are scattered across 40 locations, and the transportation routes connecting the competition venues are over 600 and complex. A person in charge of the tournament organizing committee, which dispatches up to 720 buses a day, said, ``If buses get stuck in traffic jams, the competition will be affected,'' and is calling for cooperation within and outside the prefecture to ease congestion, such as by refraining from using private cars during the event.

Accommodations for the tournament will be spread over a total of 40 locations: a mobile accommodation facility at Garden Pier in Nagoya Port, a large cruise ship at Kinjo Pier (both in Minato Ward, Nagoya City), and 38 hotels in and outside of Aichi Prefecture. On the other hand, there are nearly 100 destinations in total, mainly in Aichi Prefecture, but also competition venues in Gifu Prefecture and other areas, as well as practice fields.

At international sports competitions, it is common practice to set up dedicated lanes on roads for the transportation of athletes. At the Tokyo Olympics, special lanes and priority lanes were set up around the competition venues and the Olympic Village.

For this year's Asian Games, we decided not to install one because we judged that there would be no section where transportation vehicles would be concentrated because there is no Olympic Village. Participants are expected to arrive at the venue two hours before the start of the competition, using local roads and expressways.

However, setting transportation routes was extremely difficult. Regarding the accommodation facility that would serve as the "starting point," it was decided that a mobile accommodation facility would be set up at Garden Wharf, which was not in the original plan, and that officials from competition organizations who came to inspect the hotel would request changes.

On top of that, it's crowded during commuting hours...