'Sustainable Road
Development'

Korea's Road Conditions Still Insufficient, Compared to Advanced Countries

Korea needs to develop customer-oriented road plans designed to meet future needs and offer more benefits to motorists by building new concept roads, including super freeways and expressways with linkages to both Koreas, says Bok Kee-chan, executive managing director for construction at Korea Highway Corporation.
Executive Director Bok stressed the urgent construction of such circular trunk roads as the Second Seoul Ring Expressway to effectively address traffic problems in major cities.
In an interview with NewsWorld on the 15th anniversary of Road Day, he said Korea needs to implement a comprehensive, long-term road development plan calling for the refurbishment of the road network in the Seoul Metropolitan area where half of the nation's transportation needs are concentrated. Following are the excerpts of the interview - Ed.
Question: Could you tell our readers about expressway construction projects, which will be completed or break ground during this year?
Answer: As road construction is concerned, the July 7, 1969 opening of the 428 km-long Gyeongbu (Seoul-Busan) Expressway ushered in a full-fledged "expressway era"in Korea.
Thirty-seven years later, Korea has an expressway network covering 3,050 km in 24 routes. KHC is implementing expressway construction projects with a mid- and long-term goal of making the whole national territory within a half day's travel. KHC manages 2,850 km on 23 routes, while 299 km on three routes are under management of the private sector. The two expressway routes are overlapped by KHC and the private sector.
Korea will invest 2,386.1 billion won on projects to construct 21 new routes covering a total of 1,152 km during this year, while dedicating the 27.3 km-long line connecting Jangseong and Damyang.
KHC will invest 502.8 billion won to carry out expansion projects totaling 563 km on 16 routes. Out of the total, 76.2 km on four routes will be completed by the end of the year - 34.3 km-long Yeongdong-Gimcheon Line, 12.9 km-long Gimcheon-Gumi Line, 12 km-long Okcho-Seongsan section of the 88 Line and 17 km-long Damyang-Goseo Line.
In particular, in order to solve the chronic traffic bottlenecks, projects to expand three routes, including the 29 km-long Yangjae-Giheung section of the Gyeongbu Line, have been launched or will be launched within this year together with a project to build a new 45 km-long line between Eumseong and Chungju.
Q: Would you elaborate on the mid- and long-term road network construction plans designed to have a freeway network that allow motorists to get to any expressway within 30 minutes from any place across the nation?
A: KHC is putting more energy into making the nation's freeway network into the 6.160 km-long one in a grid pattern with seven artery expressways running from north to south and nine artery ones running from east to west.
If such a road network is completed as planned, expressways will be accessed from any place across the nation within 30 minutes, thus making any destination in Korea within a half day's travel closer to becoming reality and create a new territory space network designed to improve land utilization.
Additional demand on roads is expected to surge due to expanded personnel and material exchanges following socio-economic aspects and the advancement of life culture, rising individuals'car ownership and health-consciousness.
KHC will strive to upgrade transportation flow through continuous facility expansion and improved function of roads so that motorists can travel safely and conveniently.
Q: Would you explain to our readers the international efforts to connect road networks in Northeast Asia?
A: It is a prerequisite for Korea to advance into overseas markets to overcome the limited domestic construction market and advance the industry.
KHC is trying to seize the opportunities to explore foreign markets by capitalizing on construction expertise, seasoned manpower and experiences it has obtained from the domestic market.
Starting with road construction assistance projects in developing countries like Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, KHC is making preparations for its participation in diverse toll-charge road construction projects. It is building a foundation for its entry into overseas markets by dispatching excellent technicians abroad to transfer a wide range of technologies and to promote exchanges. KHC is offering services like construction management consulting on a detour road project in Siem Reap in Cambodia, a bridge construction project in Sir Lanka and a road project in Indonesia. It is seeking to land an order for building a bridge leading to Ho Chi Minh New International Airport in Vietnam.
KHC is playing a leading role in handing Korean contractors a helping hand in participating in overseas projects by forming consortia with them to reinvigorate the domestic construction industry.
The corporation will make continuous efforts to create a foundation for constructing the Asian Highway, a network of standardized roadways crisscrossing 32 Asian countries with linkages to Europe, and an inter-Korean freeway network linking South and North Koreas.
Q: Can you share the process of Seoul's Ring Expressway, when it is to be fully opened to traffic and what effects will it have on traffic flow?
A: Seoul Ring Expressway is designed to set up a radial-shape, circular road system to relieve the severe traffic problems in the Seoul metropolitan area and disperse vehicles passing through inner Seoul towards the outskirts of the capital city.
The 128 km-long expressway has been constructed in stages since 1988. The eastern and southern sections of the freeway are already in operation. The Phase I Project for linkages between Ilsan IC and Songchu and between Uijeongbu IC-Taegyewon have been opened to traffic on June 30, 2006. The whole Ilsan-Taegyewon section is scheduled to be completed in December 2007.
The newly opened Phase I section is expected to ease traffic congestion in the northern region of Seoul, which has so far depended on the existing national road network. The freeway could reduce travel time by 37 minutes, compared to national roads, thus saving 107.3 billion won in costs.
In particular, given the fact that the Seoul metropolitan area accounts for 47 percent of Korea's total road demand, I understand that construction of such circular roads linking major cities as the planned Second Seoul Ring Expressway is badly needed.
Q: Will you be specific in your corporation's efforts to make road construction eco-friendly and equipped with more intelligent transportation systems (ITS)?
A: Eco-friendly construction becomes the much-talked subject of the construction industry in the 21st century, In particular, road construction could pose environmental problems due to its characteristic of being continuous, linear linkage, so social conflicts may mount. There is an urgent task to shift consciousness toward the environment and proactively cope with problems.
KHC operates an environment consultation committee, comprised of representatives from NGOs and academic circles even in a planning stage to minimize social conflicts through customer participatory management, to name a few exemplary eco-friendly practices KHC has carried out. Such facilities as environment purification systems, ecological passage routes and guiding fences have been installed to lessen the effects on the environment that construction may create.
In particular, KHC is embarking on an environmental pilot project on making the 74.1 km-long Donghongcheon-Yangyang section of the planned Seoul-Chuncheon Expressway an eco-friendly one, given its passage through the scenic Baekdu Mountain Range. Landscape design, eco-friendly service areas and the construction of the longest tunnel in Korea will be taken into account in environmental and ecological aspects.
KHC has also been built up state-of-the-art ITS in the interests of expressway customers. Twenty three routes covering 2,850 km in combined length are operated with intelligent transpiration systems. Thirteen national roads with 665 km in a combined length have been furnished with ITSs to beef up links between expressways and national roads. The corporation plans to expand such ITSs to the remaining national road sections.
Such integrated information services like transportation forecasts, information on detouring roads and weather forecasts are made with its infrastructure via mobile gadgets.
Electric cash payment on toll charges is made to diversify payment methods, while the High-Pass System, a non-stop vehicle payment system, will be expanded to give more convenient services to customers.
Q: Could you comment on the desirable road policies in the long-term perspective on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Road Day?
A: Roads serve as an essential social overhead capital with diverse functions in socio-economic, tourism, culture, environment and military aspects.
They have provided the momentum to transform the nation suffering from devastation in the wake of the war in the 1960s into the global top 10 economic powerhouse, and they will surely have the same task in the future.
Some who think Korea has enough SOC equivalent to advanced countries are in the loggerheads with others who insist the nation is still lacking. The government is cutting down on public investments.
We need to respond flexibly to possible changes in public investments as the road sector is expected to suffer more public investments cuts than other fields, citing redundant investments.
Roads account for more than 90 percent of the nation's transportation needs, but insufficient supply of road facilities fail to meet a surge in transportation needs, causing more than 20 trillion won in transportation congestion costs, which weakens corporations'edge with burdensome logistics costs.
Surveys on roads show that Korea has 1.88 km in aggregate road length per 1,000 people, far lower than more than 20 km for the average OECD country, indicating Korea's insufficient road facilities. The nation's aggregate road length per 1,000 vehicles stands at 6.39 km, some one-fifth of 30 km for the OECD average.
Given the reality that a reduction in public investments into the road sector could entail more social costs in the mid- and long-term perspective, I propose suggestions on sustainable road development, citing the need for the establishment of long-term road policies.
First, the road network of the Seoul metropolitan area needs to be refurbished under a comprehensive, long-term road construction plan in a bid to solve traffic congestion in the area where 50 percent of the nation's transportation needs are concentrated.
Secondly, construction of such circular trunk roads as the Second Seoul Ring Expressway is urgent to effectively address traffic problems in major cities.
Third, Korea needs to work out customer-oriented road plans designed to meet future needs and offer more benefits to motorists. The nation will have to build new concept roads, including super freeways and expressways with linkages to both Koreas and other continents.
Fourthly, Korea must put more energy into developing value-added fields rather than the simple construction sector to expand its presence in the global market where countries are competing to secure differentiated technologies. The nation badly needs to develop advanced technologies and excellent manpower.
The nation is on the threshold of joining the rankings of advanced countries after it entered the expressway era with the opening of the 428 km-long Gyeongbu Line on July 7, 1969. Roads, which served as a force behind the economic development in the past, needs to offer a new dimension of pleasure to motorists. I hope Korea takes a look at the desirable direction of road development policies in the mid- and long-term perspective on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of Road Day. nw

Bok Kee-chan, executive managing director for construction at Korea Highway Corporation.