70km Expressway Route Without a Single Rest Facility

Board of Audit and Inspection Reviews Safety Management of Private Expressways and Private Urban Roads... Notifies Plan for Additional Drowsy Driver Rest Areas Installation

[Asia Economy Reporter Ryu Jeong-min] A report from the Board of Audit and Inspection revealed issues in highway safety management, such as the absence of any rest facilities for safe driving along a 70 km stretch of highway (including both private and public sections).

On the 12th, the Board of Audit and Inspection announced the results of an audit on the safety management of private highways and private urban roads. According to the Road Act and related laws, the maximum spacing between all rest facilities on highways is 25 km, and it is mandated to install drowsiness rest areas between general rest stops.

The Board pointed out, "Seventeen sections across six private highway routes exceed the drowsiness rest area installation interval (25 km) despite being connected to other highways, yet the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) has not reviewed the installation of rest facilities."

Board of Audit and Inspection / Photo by Moon Ho-nam munonam@

In particular, three highways (two private and one public) are consecutively connected, forming a total route of 70 km, but there were sections along the entire route without any rest facilities installed.

The Board stated, "We have notified the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to prepare measures to additionally install drowsiness rest areas and to improve the length of acceleration/deceleration lanes to meet standards."

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport established an ‘Integrated Safety Management System for Hazardous Materials Transportation,’ but it was also criticized for providing the collected information only to Korea Expressway Corporation.

The Board explained, "Private highways and others cannot utilize operational information of hazardous materials transport vehicles, creating blind spots where appropriate initial responses cannot be made in case of accidents," and added, "We have notified the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to prepare safety operation management measures for all sections where hazardous materials transport vehicles travel."

Additionally, in the case of private urban roads, problems were found with tunnel smoke control equipment. The Board pointed out, "(For private urban roads) six tunnels incorrectly set operating conditions, such as activating jet fans near the fire location or prioritizing jet fans at the exit," and "Although fire intensity varies depending on the type of fire vehicle, requiring different critical wind speeds, none of the 22 tunnels set these parameters."

It was also revealed that some private urban roads did not have properly installed lightning protection facilities. The Board stated, "We have notified the Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City to prepare measures to install appropriate lightning protection facilities, such as cable protective conductors, to prevent lightning damage on the ○○ Bridge."

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