Seoul Outer Ring Expressway to Change to 'Sudogwon 1st Circular Expressway' After 29 Years

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] The name of the Seoul Ring Expressway will be changed to 'Capital Region 1st Circular Expressway' this coming September. This is 29 years after it was designated as the Seoul Ring Line in 1991.

Earlier, Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung stated after taking office that "the name Seoul Ring Expressway originates from a Seoul-centric perspective that views Gyeonggi Province as a peripheral area around Seoul," and expressed a strong intention to push for the name change.

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 2nd that the 'Seoul Ring Expressway Name Change,' a key project of the 7th local government administration, was finally approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Road Policy Deliberation Committee on the 1st.

The Seoul Ring Expressway is a total 128 km, 8-lane expressway running through three metropolitan local governments ? Gyeonggi (including 14 cities and counties such as Goyang and Paju), Seoul (3 districts including Songpa and Nowon), and Incheon (3 districts including Bupyeong and Gyeyang) ? as well as 20 basic local governments. Construction began in 1988 to alleviate traffic congestion in the first phase new towns of the metropolitan area and was fully opened in 2007.

The Gyeonggi section (103.6 km, 81%) and Incheon section (12.5 km, 10%) account for more than 90% of the entire route, but there has been controversy over the appropriateness of the name since its opening because the name 'Seoul Ring' has given a negative image that Gyeonggi Province is a suburb or outskirts of Seoul.

In particular, as Gyeonggi Province has established itself as the largest metropolitan local government in South Korea with a population of 13.72 million and a Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of 474 trillion won, the need for a name change has recently increased significantly to enhance Gyeonggi’s status and boost residents’ pride.

Accordingly, the province has actively promoted the name change of the Seoul Ring Expressway since the launch of the 7th local government administration.

Governor Lee Jae-myung said, "Once the 'Road Route Change Notice' is issued on June 4, all legal procedures will be completed. To prevent confusion, the existing name will be used concurrently until August 31, during which time the road signs and traffic information systems will be updated. Starting September 1, the name 'Capital Region 1st Circular Expressway' will be officially used exclusively."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.