YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — After more than a year of construction, traffic is moving smoothly again, and the entrance to Yokosuka Naval Base looks warm and inviting.

There’s a wall fountain along the landscaped, well-lit entrance and a new pedestrian gate leading to a wooden walking path on the right side. Guard shacks are set farther back, for a more open and maneuverable entrance.

But most importantly, the gates are stronger, safer and more secure, officials say.

“It’s a major boost for us as far as force protection. That was the primary goal,” said the base commander, Capt. Gregory Cornish.

The massive, nearly $5 million renovation of the base’s two gates wrapped up this month, elevating force protection at the installation — the Navy’s largest overseas — and adding extra lanes for traffic and myriad security features.

Besides improved security, the update improved traffic flow. The base’s two gates open onto a busy roadway filled with pedestrians. During morning and afternoon rush hour, thousands of vehicles mingle with hundreds of pedestrians to turn onto and off of Route 16 in front of the base.

To alleviate the congestion, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation built a pedestrian overpass over the gate entrance.

“That was the big problem we were having,” said Kim McCann, Yokosuka’s Physical Security, anti-terrorism and force-protection officer.

Pedestrians crossing at the intersection no longer obstruct cars turning into the base, and pedestrians now can enter the base on either side of the gate.

The gates themselves are wider. Carnie gate, the main entrance, now has three lanes in either direction, up from two.

Womble Gate, farther down Route 16, has three lanes instead of two. The center lane can be opened to ease traffic.

“It drastically helped traffic control out in town,” said Chief Warrant Officer Alvin Campbell, operation officer for the Commander, Fleet Activities Yokosuka security office.

The new gates provide security without creating an eyesore, McCann said.

Guard shacks were pushed back as much as 100 feet in some places, allowing more room for vehicles waiting to enter. That opens the area up visually, alleviates traffic and allows guards a better vantage and more reaction time, said Senior Chief Petty Officer Deo Pineda, assistant security officer for the base.

The guard shacks also are set closer together to force cars to slow down and are climate-controlled.

The entrances have subtle curves and carefully placed, reinforced concrete barriers to force cars to slow down and protect guards from vehicles. Lanes can be altered using sturdy, removable horseshoe barricades.

Cameras capture the front of vehicles passing through the gate and an underground surveillance system captures the bottom.

“It actually takes a snapshot of the undercarriage,” Pineda said.

Hydraulic barricades, triggered automatically or manually, can pop up from the pavement to stop a runaway vehicle. Tire rippers and several other features also can stop a vehicle nearly in its tracks, Pineda said.

The project soon will include a vehicle-inspection area inside the main gate with its own security features. The area is expected to be completed this summer.

Japanese contractors, the base security office and NAVFAC orchestrated the project, which began in February 2004, Campbell said.