Seoul to Significantly Improve 'Bicycle Roads' for Better Visibility

Priority Bicycle Lanes Feature Dark Red Background... Shared Pedestrian Paths Replaced with Color Blocks

Bicycle Priority Lane

Bicycle and Pedestrian Shared Path

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Seoul City announced on the 15th that it will officially launch the 'Bicycle Road Visibility Improvement Project' to enable citizens to clearly identify bicycle lanes and ensure the safe use of bicycles, vehicles, and pedestrians alike.

Until now, bicycle users have raised issues that the bicycle lane markings on the road surface are not easily visible and are difficult to identify due to fading, while pedestrians have continuously filed complaints about many people riding bicycles on pedestrian paths.

For 'bicycle-priority roads' shared by bicycles and vehicles, the city applied a dark red background color to the road surface markings so that it is immediately recognizable as a path where bicycles can travel. Previously, only white bicycle symbols were painted, making it difficult for both bicycle users and vehicle drivers to identify the lanes. Additionally, the markings, which were spaced 50 meters apart, will now be drawn at 25-meter intervals to further enhance visibility.

The city plans to pilot the new bicycle-priority road markings on four routes?Sajik-ro, Saemunan-ro, Ujeongguk-ro, and Samil-daero?covering 4.7 km within the green transportation zones by the end of this month. Starting next year, the city will sequentially improve a total of 111 km of bicycle-priority roads in the city by 20 km annually.

For 'shared bicycle and pedestrian roads,' which are non-separated roads where bicycle and pedestrian paths are not distinguished, the city will replace the previously painted pictograms (symbolic images representing objects, facilities, or actions) that were easily erased with semi-permanent color blocks. Depending on road conditions, two sizes will be installed (80 cm wide × 40 cm high, and 120 cm wide × 80 cm high).

Following the installation of color block pictograms on Nambusunhwan-ro and Nakseongdae-ro, the city will complete installations on 13 routes, including Banghak-ro and Yeongdong-daero, requested for improvement by autonomous districts by the end of this month. From next year, the city plans to expand installations based on applications from each autonomous district.

Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Urban Transportation at Seoul City, said, "By improving the visibility of bicycle-priority roads and shared bicycle-pedestrian roads, we will create an environment where bicycles, which have gained attention as a non-contact mode of transportation in the COVID-19 era, can be used safely. We hope that the inconveniences faced by bicycle users, drivers, and pedestrians will be resolved and that a culture of mutual consideration while using bicycles will spread."

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