Incheon Bridge Likely to Usher
in New Chapter in Korean Civil Work

Samsung E&C sees cable-stayed bridge as safest and most aesthetic one in Korea
If and when completed in 2009 as planned, the Incheon Bridge will likely rewrite a history of domestic civil work, renewing a feat of the 7,310-meter-long Seohae Bridge off the West Coast, which is now rated to be the longest cable-stayed bridge in Korea.
"Work on the ongoing Incheon Bridge must be more precise because the Incheon Bridge is designed to be a cable-stayed bridge with a 800 meter-long span, the distance between two pylons, about twice as long as that of the Seohae Bridge,"said Shin Hyun-yang, project legal representative of Samsung Engineering & Construction Incheon Bridge Project in an interview with NewsWorld.
The span of the Incheon Bridge will be the fifth longest in the world and the longest one in Korea replacing the Seohae Bridge. The Seohae Bridge, the ninth longest in the world, was completed in November 2000 after seven years of construction, and the bridge, built with aesthetic appeal in mind, with different light systems being in place according to the four seasons, earned an international reputation when it was introduced by the magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineering (ASCE).
"The common feature of the Incheon and the Seohae bridges is a six-lane cable stayed bridge off the West Sea, but they are different in the type of the pylon and construction period as well as the length of the span,"Shin said. The 12.343 km-long Incheon Bridge project aimed at connecting Incheon International Airport and the international business district of New Songdo City that is being constructed with private foreign investments. The project involves the 11.658 km-long marine bridge - a 1.48 km-long cable-stayed bridge section, a 1.778 km-long approach bridge section and 8.4km viaduct bridge section,
as well as toll plaza area.
"The Incheon Bridge will have diamond-type pylons with a much longer span, which is required to be more precise compared to the gate-type pylons of the Seohae Bridge,"he said.
What is quite different is the fact that Samsung E&C has been given five years to complete the Incheon Bridge instead of the seven years it took to dedicate the Seohae Bridge. Unlike the civil work of the Seohae Bridge, one of the thorniest things facing Samsung E&C is erecting the superstructure of the bridge using a floating crane in the shortest time possible so as not to snarl the navigation of ships plying to and from Incheon Port, one of the nation's busiest maritime routes, and to this end, Samsung E&C is employing a new construction method, the first of its kind in Korea. Most of the superstructure will be manufactured and transported by a barge from the Songdo Casting Yard to shorten the construction period. The establishing of the Songdo Casting Yard is a method that initially requires a large investment, but the repetition of similar works such as approach and viaduct bridges will cost less, Shin said.
The Songdo Casting Yard has an automatic system for ordering, storing, fabricating and delivering rebar. For the first time in Korea the automatic fabrication equipment for rebar cage is used for concrete drill piles so as to ensure efficiency and productivity. Materials used for the construction, including steel casing, pre-cast (PC) houses and PC girders are produced from the yard.
Samsung E&C is committed to building the Incheon Bridge as the safest and the most beautiful in Korea. Price, construction methods, experience and technical prowess may be considered as important factors in selecting the contractor for the project.
In reality, Samsung E&C has accumulated know-how and experience while undertaking bridge projects at home and abroad. The Yeongjong Bridge, the existing sole bridge spanning Incheon International Airport and Incheon, is the first-ever three-dimensional, self-anchored suspension bridge,
built by Samsung E&C.
Shin said such construction techniques, including cable-hanging method used in constructing the Yeongjong Bridge, will be employed again for the construction of the Incheon Bridge.
So far, construction companies have teamed up to inaugurate an investment company in charge of undertaking private investment projects. The Incheon Bridge project is different: KODA Development, a joint venture by AMEC, a British technical service and project management leader, and the city of Incheon, have selected Samsung Joint Venture, led by Samsung E&C. as a contractor through a public bidding system. Unlike the previous cases, Samsung E&C has been engaged in only construction, but not with investments, an independent and corruption-free practice, so the construction cost is fixed.
KODA is awarded the right to operate the bridge for 30 years out of a projected life span of 100 years, after completion.
Residents of New Songdo City, part of the Incheon Free Economic Zone being built under a government Northeast Asia business hub vision, have to take a boat ride or make a detour to Incheon via the existing Yeongjong Grand Bridge to reach Incheon International Airport. If and when the Incheon Bridge is opened, it will reduce the traveling time from the current time of one hour to 20 minutes.
The Incheon Bridge will be requisite as a bridge substituting the existing Yeongjong Grand Bridge to help Incheon International Airport serve as a logistics center, thus raising the rating of the airport.
Beyond New Songdo City, motorists traveling from downtown Seoul to Incheon Int? Airport will make it in 40 minutes as it is connected with 2nd Gyeongin Expressway and the planned 3rd Gyeongin Expressway and West Coast Expressway, it will also provide easier access to the central region of Chungcheong. The cable-stayed bridge section will be placed high enough for a 100,000-ton ship to navigate. It is designed to endure a storm of with velocity of 72 meters per second and an earthquake with a Richter scale reading of 7.
The superstructure of the approach bridge will remain in concrete box girder in seven continuous spans, each measuring 145 meters, while its substructure is designed with drilled pile shaft foundation with rectangular hollow piers.
The viaduct bridge is designed with concrete box girder in 5 continuous spans, each 50 meters long, while its substructure is designed with Bent-type piers.
The cable-stayed bridge and some sections of the approach bridges will have a ship impact protection system to protect them from collision with passing ships. nw

Samsung E&C CEO Lee Sang-dae,

An artist conception of the planned Incheon Bridge, being built by Samsung E&C

Shin Hyun-yang, project legal representative of Samsung Engineering & Construction Incheon Bridge Project PM Civil Department