From Matsuyama Airport to Itoyama Park, at the Gateway to the Shimanami Kaido

The destination is a park with a view of the bridges

Itoyama Park is introduced as a place that looks out over the Kurushima Kaikyo Bridge. The company that runs the Shimanami Kaido, Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company, features it in its “Let us go see the bridges” pages. The official Ehime tourism site, the Imabari Area Tourism Association, and the official site of the observatory also have guides.

This article uses Itoyama Park as the destination, not Kurushima Kaikyo Service Area, because you can enter the park from a local road. To visit the service area by expressway from the Shikoku side, you enter at Imabari IC.

The Ehime guide says about 1 hour 20 minutes from the airport to Imabari Station

The official Ehime tourism site, Iyokan Net (いよ観ネット), gives the following car route from Matsuyama Airport to Imabari Station.

マイカーをご利用の場合 松山空港～今治駅（約1時間20分） 松山空港 県道22号線・190号線約15分 余戸南IC 松山外環状道路、松山・今治小松自動車道約45分 今治湯ノ浦IC 国道196号線約20分 今治駅

Translation: “If you use your own car: Matsuyama Airport to Imabari Station (about 1 hour 20 minutes). Matsuyama Airport. Prefectural Roads 22 and 190, about 15 minutes. Yogominami IC. Matsuyama Outer Ring Road and the Matsuyama and Imabari-Komatsu Expressway, about 45 minutes. Imabari Yunoura IC. National Route 196, about 20 minutes. Imabari Station.”

Source: 松山空港から今治駅へ｜いよ観ネット

The destination of this guide is Imabari Station. Itoyama Park is farther northwest than Imabari Station. We could not find an official guide that gives the travel time from the airport to Itoyama Park.

For Sunrise Itoyama (サンライズ糸山), next to Itoyama Park, Imabari City gives “Imabari Yunoura IC -> about 30 minutes -> destination.” This is not the time to Itoyama Park. The same page also has a notice that the Sunrise Itoyama facility will close temporarily on March 31, Reiwa 8. Itoyama Park and the Kurushima Strait Observatory are separate facilities.

From Imabari Yunoura IC, you drive on National Route 196

The Imabari-Komatsu Expressway is not yet connected on the Imabari side of Imabari Yunoura IC. The Matsuyama River and National Highway Office of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism lists the issue between Imabari IC and Imabari Yunoura IC as “the Setouchi Shimanami Kaido and the Matsuyama Expressway are not yet connected.” The same page gives the section between Imabari Asakura IC and Imabari Yunoura IC as “scheduled to open in fiscal year Reiwa 8” (checked on September 16, 2026).

So you leave the expressway at Imabari Yunoura IC and take National Route 196 toward the center of Imabari. Imabari City also gives this guide to people coming from the Shikoku side.

四国方面から来られる方は高速道路はご利用にならないでください。 ※四国方面から来られる方は、今治湯ノ浦ICが最終です。 今治IC・今治北ICをご利用されると、大島南ICまで行ってしまいます。十分ご注意ください。

Translation: “If you are coming from the Shikoku side, please do not use the expressway. * For people coming from the Shikoku side, Imabari Yunoura IC is the last one. If you use Imabari IC or Imabari-kita IC, you will end up going as far as Oshima-minami IC. Please be very careful.”

Source: 糸山サイクリングターミナル（サンライズ糸山）｜今治市

If you enter at Imabari IC or Imabari-kita IC, you can only go toward Honshu

Each interchange on the Shimanami Kaido has rules about which way you can go. Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Expressway Company writes the following about Imabari IC and Imabari-kita IC.

（今治ICから入られるお客様へ）本四道路をご利用される場合、本州方面にしか行けません。ご注意下さい。

Translation: “(To customers entering from Imabari IC) If you use the Honshu-Shikoku road, you can only go toward Honshu. Please be careful.”

今治北ICから今治IC、来島海峡SA及び松山道（松山・高松方面）へは行けません。

Translation: “From Imabari-kita IC, you cannot go to Imabari IC, Kurushima Kaikyo SA, or the Matsuyama Expressway (toward Matsuyama and Takamatsu).”

Source: E76 西瀬戸自動車道 今治IC／今治北IC｜JB本四高速

The site also says you can exit at Imabari-kita IC only if you came from the Honshu side. You can reach Itoyama Park from Prefectural Road 161 without entering the expressway.

To stop at Kurushima Kaikyo Service Area, enter at Imabari IC

Kurushima Kaikyo Service Area is another place to see the bridges. The conditions for stopping there from the Shikoku side are as follows.

※四国側から来島海峡SAへ行かれる場合は、今治ICから流入し、来島海峡SAへお越し下さい。来島海峡SAは上下一体型のサービスエリアです。 ※今治北IC入口からは、来島海峡SAには立ち寄れませんのでご注意下さい。

Translation: “* If you go to Kurushima Kaikyo SA from the Shikoku side, please enter from Imabari IC and come to Kurushima Kaikyo SA. Kurushima Kaikyo SA is a service area that combines the inbound and outbound sides. * You cannot stop at Kurushima Kaikyo SA from the Imabari-kita IC entrance, so please be careful.”

Source: 来島海峡サービスエリア（上下）｜JBハイウェイサービス

The guide also says there is a community gate (コミュニティゲート) where you can use only the rest facility from a local road (10 parking spaces for local road users).

What to check before you leave

• Expressway tolls: This article does not give any amounts. You can look them up on the NEXCO West Japan toll search by entering your vehicle type and the date and time.
• Opening of the Imabari Asakura IC to Imabari Yunoura IC section: The Ministry page says “令和８年度 開通予定” (scheduled to open in fiscal year Reiwa 8). When it opens, the route will change.
• Construction: The same page says “道路沿いで工事を行っています。注意して通行してください。” (Construction is being done along the road. Please drive with care.)
• In front of the airport terminal: Matsuyama Airport says “松山空港旅客ターミナル周辺の道路は、一部の降車レーンを除き駐停車禁止となっています。” (Stopping and parking are prohibited on the roads around the Matsuyama Airport passenger terminal, except in some drop-off lanes.)

Source: 国道196号 今治道路｜松山河川国道事務所、車・バイク｜松山空港

What comes next for this article

The latitude and longitude of the points, and the names of roads and junctions, are checked with OpenStreetMap information. The point numbers will be the same as the chapter numbers of the driving video. When the video is ready, you will be able to jump to each scene from the point headings. After we drive the route, we will add how the guide signs appear and where the parking lot entrance is.