The origin of electric which Tokyo depends on for a peculiar institution of road-occupying constructions in Meiji and Taisho Era

Abstract

In early Meiji Era many new infrastructures which needed to use roads were introduced into Japan from the West. From early days, national projects like the development of telephone and telegraph networks were legally privileged to occupy roads and use them at their discretion. To deal with this unorganized situation, aplan to accommodate pipes and cables into common ducts was included in the Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Program of Tokyo. Under the old Road Traffic Law, however, the common duct was not defined as a road strucuture but as a construction that occupies the road As a result, space on and above roads remained in disorder which was cumulated through Meiji and Taisho Eras.