Pyeongtaek City "Cheongju~Yeongwol East-West Expressway Passes Ministry of Economy and Finance Preliminary Feasibility Study"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Pyeongtaek City announced on the 28th that it warmly welcomes the passage of the preliminary feasibility study by the Ministry of Economy and Finance for the Cheongju~Yeongwol East-West Expressway construction project (29.0km) together with 530,000 citizens.

The East-West Expressway project is a 250km-long road connecting Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi Province and Samcheok City, Gangwon Province, with a total of 127.3km sequentially opened: ▲2008 Seo-Pyeongtaek Interchange~Eumseong, Chungcheongbuk-do section ▲2013 Eumseong~Chungju section ▲2015 Chungju~Cheongju section.

However, the Cheongju~Samcheok (123.2km) expressway in Gangwon Province remained an uncompleted section, and the necessity for early opening has been continuously raised. This time, the Cheongju~Yeongwol section has passed the preliminary feasibility study, bringing the Pyeongtaek~Samcheok Expressway closer to complete opening.

Pyeongtaek City has been jointly responding with 11 nearby cities and counties to achieve complete opening of the Pyeongtaek~Samcheok expressway as part of the six East-West axes.

▲2015 Establishment of the Pyeongtaek~Samcheok East-West Expressway Promotion Committee (12 local governments) ▲Launching of a presidential petition on the Blue House website to urge early opening of the East-West Expressway ▲Expansion of a 530,000-strong civic petition movement ▲Submission of joint requests for early construction ▲Continuous monitoring of promotion status among member cities and counties and development of measures, and other multilateral efforts.

Mayor Jung Jang-seon stated, "With the passage of the preliminary feasibility study for the Cheongju~Yeongwol section, the foundation for mutual development of the East and West coasts has been established," and "We hope that the project will be promoted expeditiously and serve as a catalyst for national balanced development by alleviating traffic congestion on the East-West coast, advancing the logistics industry, promoting cultural tourism, and creating jobs."

Meanwhile, Pyeongtaek City plans to continue cooperating with member cities and counties of the East-West Expressway Council to ensure that the Yeongwol~Samcheok section, which remains uncompleted, is also opened early to provide nonstop traffic convenience between the West Coast and East Coast.