Chronic Traffic Congestion Areas to be Resolved by 2007

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 20th that it will complete ongoing maintenance projects for chronic traffic congestion areas in the province by 2007 to reduce commute times and cut logistics costs for residents of the Seoul metropolitan area.

Since 1993, the province has been implementing a project to resolve chronic traffic congestion areas including bottlenecks and intersections resulting from Seoul metropolitan development, investing a total of 1.8891 trillion won to improve 55 chronic congestion zones spanning 123.18 kilometers.

Maintenance projects totaling 27.4 kilometers were completed by the end of last year, including nine bottleneck expansion projects such as the road construction project from Dangdong to Gocheon in Gunpo City, three intersection grade separation projects such as the three-dimensional intersection construction project at Namtaeryeong intersection in Gwacheon, and seven bypass road projects such as the National Highway 43 expansion in Uijeongbu.

Construction work is underway on 28 sites including the Suwon Station bypass road project in Suwon City, the Tahncheon waterside road expansion project in Seongnam City, the National Highway 47 expansion project in Gunpo City, and the Bukha 2 Bridge expansion project in Icheon City.

Additionally, eight bottleneck and grade separation intersection projects are in the design and compensation phases, including the road expansion project from Idong Bridge to Uijeongbu City boundary in Pocheon City, the Jangji IC intersection project in Gwangju City, and the National Highway 39 bypass road project in Siheung City.

A provincial official stated, "While traffic conditions have deteriorated significantly as bottleneck sections have increased due to various development projects, the completion of the chronic traffic congestion resolution project will contribute to reducing commute times and cutting logistics costs."