Uiwang-Gwacheon Toll Road to Expand and Open by March Next Year

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 27th that it will expand and open the Uiwang~Gwacheon toll road section from Hakui JC to Gwacheon Tunnel, which suffers from chronic traffic congestion, by March next year.

A provincial official stated, "We have decided to prioritize opening the 2.3 km section from Hakui JC in Uiwang to Gwacheon Tunnel by March next year, where chronic congestion occurs," and added, "When this section opens, the chronic congestion problem will be substantially resolved."

The Uiwang~Gwacheon toll road expansion project, which Gyeonggi Province began construction on in August 2004 with a total project cost of 89 billion won, involves expanding the entire 4.08 km section from Hakui JC in Uiwang City to Munwon IC in Gwacheon City from 4 lanes to 8 lanes, with two new tunnels (Gwacheon Tunnel, 650m in length) to be constructed in the middle.

The Uiwang~Gwacheon toll road currently accommodates an average of 101,000 vehicles per day, with Hakui JC connecting to the Seoul Outer Ring Expressway. During rush hours, vehicles heading to Seoul or Suwon become entangled, causing severe traffic congestion.

The province expects that when the Hakui JC-Gwacheon Tunnel section opens first, traffic congestion in this area will be substantially reduced.

Meanwhile, the province plans to open the Uiwang toll gate of the Uiwang~Gwacheon toll road by the end of this month, expanding the road from the existing 16 lanes to 20 lanes and increasing the number of toll booths from 16 to 24 to resolve congestion.