Pyeongtaek City: "Starfield Anseong Must Prepare Traffic Measures Before Opening"

Location map of Starfield Anseong Branch.(Source: Pyeongtaek City)

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Pyeongtaek City is grappling with the need to develop traffic measures in response to the opening of Starfield Anseong Branch.

The city announced traffic measures for the "Starfield Anseong" opening through an online briefing on the 14th.

Starfield Anseong Branch, which began construction in 2015 and was completed this year, is located at 3980 Seodong-daero, Gongdo-eup, Anseong City (Jinsa-ri). It will house E-Mart, shopping mall, cinema, kids park, and Aquafield, with partial opening on the 27th of this month and full opening on October 7th.

As a result, vehicle traffic in the area is expected to increase significantly. Pyeongtaek City predicts 24,786 vehicles on weekdays and 38,628 on weekends.

The issue is that while the location is adjacent to the center of Pyeongtaek City in geographical terms, it falls under Anseong City's administrative jurisdiction.

Pyeongtaek City pointed out that the direct ramp construction from Anseong Interchange to Starfield is unable to open before the Starfield opening due to cavity issues from excavation (entrance road scheduled to open in December).

If the opening occurs before the direct ramp is established, urgent practical measures are needed, and continuous monitoring after opening is necessary to achieve actual improvements, according to the city's position.

Additionally, Pyeongtaek City claimed there are concerns about traffic congestion and accidents due to conflicts between vehicles turning left from Anseong Interchange through National Road 38 to Starfield and vehicles going straight through the underpass.

For this reason, Pyeongtaek City has repeatedly requested Starfield, Gyeonggi Province, and Anseong City to postpone the opening until after the direct ramp opens. However, with the opening date just around the corner and no signs of improvement, the city remains frustrated.

Kim Hyeong-tae, director of Pyeongtaek City's Safety, Construction and Transportation Division, who spoke at the briefing, stated: "We have continuously requested Anseong City to implement improvements as indicated in Gyeonggi Province's traffic impact assessment, but they have not been accepted," and explained: "Pyeongtaek City has limited authority over large-scale mart openings in other cities, so we have limitations in developing measures."

He further emphasized: "We hope that Starfield and Anseong City will implement various traffic measures such as entrance ramps."