Seoul Metropolitan Area Traffic Information Center Opens on 6th

A traffic information center that will provide real-time traffic information for the Seoul Metropolitan Area opens on the 6th.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 5th that it will open a traffic information center to comprehensively collect and provide real-time traffic information on major expressways, national roads, and provincial roads in the Seoul Metropolitan Area through various media outlets.

The Traffic Information Center, built by the province at a cost of 4.8 billion won on the site of the former sericulture experimental station in Geumgok-dong, Gwonseon-gu, Suwon, spans two floors with a total construction area of 628 square meters (190 pyeong) and features a comprehensive traffic information control room and broadcast studio.

The center will comprehensively receive and collect traffic information from various municipalities within the province including Suwon and Gwacheon, as well as related agencies such as the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, Korea Expressway Corporation, and Seoul Metropolitan Government, and provide it in real-time through radio, the Internet, mobile services, and electronic signboards.

To address the shortcoming of lacking its own information collection capabilities, the province plans to invest a total of 41.9 billion won from next year through 2009 to establish traffic information collection systems, including detectors (for speed and traffic volume), CCTV, and AVI (automatic vehicle identification devices), across 8 sections totaling 118.3 kilometers, including the Jayuro expressway (Seoul city boundary~Imjingak) and the Bongdam-Gwacheon urban expressway.

In the second phase, the province will gradually expand the system to 51 major national roads and provincial roads covering 1,238 kilometers.

Additionally, the province plans to integrate and operate a comprehensive bus information center that will provide real-time information on bus operations, such as estimated bus arrival times, to offer comprehensive traffic information.

Lee Ji-hun, head of the Transportation Bureau, said, "The traffic information center is a system that collects and provides traffic information from each municipality within the province as well as from related agencies such as the Ministry of Construction and Transportation and Seoul Metropolitan Government in one place. Once the center's functions are established, it will provide real-time traffic information on major national roads and expressways, which will significantly reduce traffic congestion costs and help prevent traffic accidents and other safety incidents."

Meanwhile, according to analysis by the Korea Transport Institute, as of 2002, Gyeonggi Province's traffic congestion costs reached 5.5 trillion won, accounting for 44.3 percent of the total congestion costs for the Seoul Metropolitan Area (12.4 trillion won).