'Year-End Groundbreaking' for Incheon 3rd Yeonryukgyo Bridge Urban Planning Facility Decision... Changed to General Road

Aerial view of the 3rd Yeonryuk Bridge between Yeongjong and Cheongna, Incheon [Provided by Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Incheon City announced on the 20th that it has decided and publicly notified the urban management plan to begin construction of the third sea bridge, the 3rd Yeonryukgyo, which connects Yeongjongdo and the mainland, within this year.

In this decision, the city changed the road alignment of the 3rd Yeonryukgyo considering the main route of ships entering and leaving Gyeongin Port, and also changed the usage type from a motor vehicle-only road to a general road.

Through this, the 3rd Yeonryukgyo will be accessible to cyclists and pedestrians as well, and it will be actively utilized as a tourism resource.

The 3rd Yeonryukgyo, connecting Incheon’s Yeongjongdo and Cheongra International City, will have a total length of 4.6 km, six lanes for two-way traffic, and will include a 3-meter-wide sidewalk and a combined bicycle road.

The total project cost is 680 billion KRW, with construction starting by the end of the year and completion targeted for 2025. Construction costs of 500 billion KRW were already secured as they were included in the apartment sale prices during the development of Cheongra and Yeongjong International City in 2006.

The construction of the 3rd Yeonryukgyo had been delayed for a long time due to issues such as loss compensation for the operators of the nearby toll roads, the 1st and 2nd Yeonryukgyo (Yeongjong Bridge and Incheon Bridge).

However, in November 2017, Incheon City and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport reached an agreement that Incheon City would bear the full loss compensation if traffic volume decreased to 70% or less compared to just before the opening of the 3rd Yeonryukgyo, which opened a breakthrough for the project, and the plan for "construction in 2020 and opening in 2025" was finalized.

However, residents of Yeongjongdo are demanding that the opening of the 3rd Yeonryukgyo be advanced from 2025 to 2023, saying, "The construction period of the Incheon Bridge, which is about four times longer than the 3rd Yeonryukgyo, is 52 months, and the bridge between Yeongjong and Sindo, including detailed design, takes 36 months, but the 3rd Yeonryukgyo takes 84 months including detailed design."

Mayor Park Namchun of Incheon also pledged during the 2018 local elections to "open the 3rd Yeonryukgyo early in 2023." Mayor Park stated that he would spare no administrative or financial support to reduce the construction period, but currently, the prevailing view is that the possibility of the 3rd Yeonryukgyo opening in 2023 is slim.

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