Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Chikage Ogi said Friday she will inspect a controversial project to build an expressway that would semicircle the suburban Tokyo area.
She will carry out the inspection Tuesday, together with Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara.
Ogi will be the first minister to inspect the route, which was started in 1969 but has been stop-and-go since 1970.
The Tokyo Outer Circular Road, if it is ever finished, would draw an arch from Ichikawa in Chiba Prefecture to Mitaka in Tokyo and down to Kawasaki.
Construction of a 16-km section from Oizumi in Tokyo's Nerima Ward to Yoga in Setagaya Ward has been suspended for more than three decades due to strong opposition from local residents.
But 30 km of the 85-km route has already been opened, with a 39-km section currently under construction.
The project, adopted by the government in 1966 to ease traffic jams in central Tokyo, proved problematic and was partially frozen in 1970.
Ishihara started holding meetings with local residents last year, however, and proposed an underground expressway to reduce noise and air pollution for the local areas concerned.