Busan-Geoje Project to Set Milestone
in Korean History of Civil Engineering

The mammoth Busan-Geoje Fixed Link project is set to represent a milestone in Korean history of civil engineering as it will adopt such advanced engineering technologies as the introduction of an immersed tunnel for the first time in Korea.
The latest technologies the project will employ also include Korea's first durable structure designed on the basis of performance: DuraCrete, Korea's first Mass Concrete Box Structure and the first application of a weather forecasting system in a domestic project, Koo Im-sig, managing director of Daewoo E&C and concurrently chief of construction at GK Fixed Link Corp., said.
The projected bridge with an immersed tunnel, the world's largest one and Korea's first, has begun to take shape in waters off the South East Coast as contractors are working on its foundations. The bridge, tentatively named as "Geoga Bridge,"will connect Cheonseong-dong, Gangseo-gu, Busan Metropolitan City and Yuho-ri, Jangmok-myeon, Geojae City, South Gyeongsang Province.
The tunnel, 3.7 km in total length, will be built by immersing 18 elements, each weighing 45,000 to 50,000 tons into the maximum depth of 38 meters, the deepest one in the world before backfilling them.
The project is an environment-friendly as most concrete structures will be pre-cast onshore - at the manufacturing yard in the nearby Tongyeong industrial complex -, then assembled and completed at site after transportation to enhance quality and minimize possible environmental issues. The caisson foundation for the bridges are pre-cast at the on-shore yard, transported to the construction job site and installed to improve quality and ensure environment-friendly construction.
The state-of-the-art bridge, 8,204 meters in total length, will have a 21.6 meter-wide two-lane road in each direction. Also the highlight of the bridge will be a 1.87 km-long, two-pylon cable-stayed bridge with a 470 meter-long main span and156 meters in height and a 1.65 km-long, three-pylon cable-stayed bridge with a 230 meter-long main span. The bridge deck is fixed to the pylon by inclined cables so that cables are installed symmetrically from both sides of the pylon.
The Busan-Geoje Fixed Link project is a private investment BTO (Build-Transfer-Operate) project. nw

CEO Park Chang-kyoo