Due to heavy concentrated rain during the monsoon season in Gwangju, potholes have surged to about 100 cases per day

Gwangju City Strives to Repair Roads to Alleviate Citizen Traffic Inconvenience and Prevent Safety Accidents

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] The Gwangju area is experiencing a rapid increase in potholes due to heavy rains during the monsoon season.

In response, the Gwangju city government is making every effort to repair roads to alleviate inconvenience for citizens and prevent safety accidents.

According to Gwangju city on the 7th, emergency repairs are being carried out on damaged asphalt pavement caused by continuous rain since the 10th of last month.

Typically, the average number of daily road repairs is about 25 cases, but since last month, it has surged to around 100 cases, about four times higher.

For the entire year so far, 8,243 cases covering 3,493㎡ have been urgently repaired.

Gwangju city operates a special road maintenance team consisting of 18 members in 4 groups to efficiently and promptly maintain and manage potholes, and continuously receives reports of pothole occurrences through the smartphone-based ‘Bitgoeul Road Keeper’ system to take action.

While complete restoration is the principle to alleviate citizens' inconvenience, emergency repairs are prioritized to prevent safety accidents. Full repairs in emergency repair areas are planned to begin in earnest after the rain stops.

Potholes mainly occur during the winter or monsoon seasons when rainwater penetrates the pavement layer, weakening the pavement structure. Repeated vehicle loads cause partial depressions (subsidence), and especially during the rainy season, moisture remains on the road surface for a long time, infiltrating through micro-cracks into the pavement structure, accelerating cracking and peeling, which damages the road.

Gwangju city urges citizens to report potholes to the 120 Bitgoeul Call Center, the Comprehensive Construction Headquarters Road Management Division, or the construction departments of each district office.

Oh Gyu-hwan, head of the city’s Comprehensive Construction Headquarters, said, “We are making every effort to patrol and repair potholes, but during heavy rains and concentrated downpours, they occur simultaneously in multiple locations, making early detection difficult with limited inspection personnel. We ask citizens to report potholes immediately so that we can take action.”

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