Part of Gyeongin Expressway to be a general road in 2017

About 11.7 kilometers section from Western Incheon Interchange to last stop in southern Incheon of Gyeongin Expressway, which divides the city of Incheon into two, will become a general road.

“After receiving the management right on the partial section of Gyeongin Expressway and we decided to change the section into the general road,” said Incheon Metropolitan City on Sunday.

The Incheon city government and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport have recently agreed on the matter and are now reviewing on the timing of management transfer to be the first half of 2017, immediately before the opening of the Second Seoul Ring Expressway. Although some part of the expressway will become a general road, partial section will remain as express way while urban revitalization project is likely to be carried out on the segment where residential areas are concentrated.

In an effort to relieve chronic traffic jam during commuting hours, the project for an underground road tunnel is planned on the segment between Western Incheon I.C. to Seoul Shinwol Interchange. The underground roadway project will be viable when the result of cost-benefit analysis is 1.0 or higher. The result of the feasibility study will be announced in June.

Under the circumstances, seven basic local governments of Western, Central, Eastern, Southern, Bupyeong, Gyeyang Districts of Incheon and Bucheon in Gyeonggi Province, all of which are located near the Gyeongin Expressway contend that “Due to chronic traffic jam, Gyeongin Expressway has lost its function as a high-speed way and separated the city’s interaction,” demanding to make the expressway an underground road tunnel. Making it an underground road and repealing its toll were presidential election pledges of President Park Geun-hye.