Gyeonggi Province Traffic Information Center Begins Full Operations

The Gyeonggi Province Traffic Information Center, the nation's first facility to provide real-time traffic information on expressways, has officially opened and begun full operations.

The traffic information center, which comprehensively collects and provides real-time traffic data from major expressways, national highways, and provincial roads in cities and counties throughout Gyeonggi Province and the Seoul metropolitan area, officially opened on the 6th and commenced full-scale operations.

Built by Gyeonggi Province at a cost of 4.8 billion won on the site of the former sericulture research institute in Geumgok-dong, Gwonseon-gu, Suwon, the traffic information center is a two-story facility with a total building area of 628 square meters (190 pyeong). It is equipped with a comprehensive traffic and bus situation room, a radio reporter broadcast studio for traffic updates, and a traffic and bus information data analysis room.

The center receives and consolidates comprehensive traffic information from municipal and county governments throughout the province as well as from related agencies including the Ministry of Construction and Transportation, Korea Expressway Corporation, and Seoul Metropolitan Government. This information is then provided in real-time through radio, internet, mobile services, and electronic signboards.

To overcome the limitation of lacking independent information collection capabilities, the province plans to invest 41.9 billion won from 2007 to 2009 to establish a traffic information collection system—including detectors for speed and traffic volume measurement, CCTV cameras, and AVI (Automatic Vehicle Identification) devices—across eight sections totaling 118.3 kilometers, including the Bongdam-Gwacheon urban expressway and Jayuro (Seoul city line to Imjingak).

Additionally, the province plans to gradually expand the system to cover 51 major national and provincial highways totaling 1,238 kilometers. Integration with the bus comprehensive situation room is also being planned to provide real-time information on bus arrival times and other operational data.

A provincial official stated, "The traffic information center will provide traffic information about bypass routes for chronic congestion areas in each city and county, thereby preventing traffic accidents and safety hazards caused by accidents and construction zones. Once the center's functions are established, through traffic database development and scientific traffic policies, real-time traffic information on provincial, national, and expressways will be provided, significantly reducing traffic congestion costs."

Meanwhile, according to analysis by the Korea Transportation Institute, as of 2002, Gyeonggi Province's traffic congestion cost was 5.5 trillion won, accounting for 44.3 percent of the total congestion cost in the Seoul metropolitan area (12.4 trillion won).