No.2 West Coast Expressway

The expressway is to be completed in 2018, partly funded through private investors

The No.2 West Coast Expressway linking Shihung, Gyeonggi Province with Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, will be opened in 2018, the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said March 27.
The project was launched at the end of March with the start of construction on the section linking Pyeongtaek and Shihung, scheduled for completion in 2013. The section will further link west Pyeongtaek, Asan, Yesan and with Hongseong, after crossing the inland areas of the province, a total distance of 108.6 km, the ministry said.
According to the ministry's plan, the section from Pyeongtaek to Shihung, a distance of 42.6 km, will be completed in 2013 and the rest of the expressway linking Pyeongtaek and Hongseong, a distance of 66 km, will be completed in 2018.
A total of 14 construction firms led by Halla Construction will undertake the construction of the Pyeongtaek-Shihung section, which will be financed by a consortium of private investors, the Second West Coast Expressway Co.
The project does not have a government guarantee for profits and will require some 1.163 trillion won to build with private investors chipping in some 861.1 billion won.
The government will take over the ownership of the section, but private investors will have the right to operate the highway section for 30 years. Toll fees will be about the same as those charged by the Korea Expressway Corp., 2,500 won per passenger car.
A survey on the Pyeongtaek and Hongseong section will be made this year with the ministry hoping that traffic congestion on the West Coast Expressway linking Seoul, Songsan green city and other new towns along the highway down to Mokpo will ultimately be resolved with the construction of the second expressway on the west coast.
The South Chungcheong Provincial government initially wanted the projected highway to pass through Asan Bay to Hongseong, but the ministry thought that it is impossible because of the difficulty involved in adding more lanes to the West Sea Grand Bridge and thus opted for the highway to pass through the inland area of the province.
The ministry reported the project to President Lee Myung-bak during the Presidential tour of the ministry on March 24 and said the projected completion date could be advanced by one or two years.
The West Coast Highway, which extends for 353 km from Incheon to Mokpo, cut short the traveling time from Incheon to Mokpo to four hours from eight hours and saves about 600 billion won in logistics costs annually, the ministry said.
In the meantime, the Korea Expressway Corp. celebrated its 35th anniversary on Feb. 15 and officials and staff of the highway management company and their family members visited the Taean coastal area hit hard by the crude oil spill. They came from branch offices and operation units nationwide to participate in volunteer work to clean the coastal area covered with heavy oil spilled from an oil tanker that collided with a ferry carrying large cranes.
The Korea Expressway Corp. has made a great contribution to the country's development by building and managing expressways and has always been at the forefront of efforts to overcome adversities and build a framework to be a company loved by the people, the company said. nw

Minister Chung Jong-hwan of the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs