Showcasing Importance of Road,
Traffic Planning
Int'l Road & Traffic Expo 2005 aimed at catching up latest trends


International Road and Traffic Expo 2005 is scheduled to be held July 7-10 at KINTEX under the joint sponsorship of the Korea Road and Transportation Association and the Korea International Exhibition Center(KINTEX) with the support of the Ministries of Construction and Transportation, Commerce, Industry and Energy and the Korea Highway Corp.
The purposes of the expo are to catch up with road and traffic trends in the world, the distribution of latest equipment and material and the exchange of information among those engaged in the business around the world gathered at one place so that the Korean road and traffic sector would be able to upgrade its technologies to the extent that it would be able to build an environmentally-friendly road and an intelligent traffic system while setting off a flourishing trade and expanding the base of exports. In the modern world, road and traffic conditions have a large bearing on individual lives and industry. Overseas, diversified events on road and traffic are held in Europe and North and South America to spur the exchange of technology in road and traffic sectors help the industrial development. In Asia, such events have been missing until now.
The expo is likely to play the role of a bridgehead for Korea to secure a dominant position in Asian road construction market, commanding a lot of attention from related industries and those in the road and traffic sectors.
The organizers have been very careful about the preparation for the event for the past two years as it is the first such event held in the country in such a large and modern exhibition center like KINTEX.
Kim Tae-chul, manager for KINTEX, said it was difficult to organize the event at first, but they have been able to overcome the difficulty thanks to help from organizations concerned including the government, academics, and industries, adding that it would be a successful event.
He also said the event will be a good opportunity for Korean firms and engineers to expand their advancement overseas.
He said he will try to expand the expo next time since the traffic sector takes up a wide area ranging from land, marine, aviation, inland shipping, and to logistics.
In the meantime, Cho Kyu-sang, manager of the KRTA, said until now, the road and traffic sector only included road, traffic and tunnels centered around infrastructure, but now it is expanded to include electronic, communication and other high tech technology in addition to employing environmentally-friendly construction technology to show that the focus is being shifted to human-centered construction and effective management areas. The expo this time therefore would reflect these changes and expand to diverse high-tech construction technology including environmentally-friendly construction technology, technologies related to ITS and products. Major items to be on display at the expo would include road construction and maintenance of safety installations and equipment, traffic signals and signs, road side facilities, intelligent traffic system(ITS). telematics, parking facilities, services and others.
In the meantime, KRTA will hold a ceremony to commemorate the 14th Road Day on July 7, which coincides with the opening of the Seoul-Busan Expressway. Various commemorative events would include a forum and a technology announcement. Participants in the forum would include foreign experts from the United States and Japan under the theme of "sustainable road traffic"to underscore the exchange of latest technology on road traffic. There would also be an international seminar on parking installations under a main theme of 'Future Trends of Parking Technology and Global Cooperation'to showcase future technology trends and ideas for international cooperation in the area.
They will also hold the general conference of the 1st Global Parking Installation Association. nw

Son Hak-lai, chairman of the Korea Road and Transportation Association, delivers a speech during the 5th International Conference on Road & Airfield Pavement Technology.