Yeosu~Namhae Undersea Tunnel 'Preliminary Feasibility Study Passed'

Yeosu~Namhae Reduced from 1 Hour 30 Minutes to 10 Minutes

[Yeosu=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Sim Kyung-taek] The long-cherished dream of Jeollanam-do Yeosu City and Gyeongnam Namhae County, the ‘Yeosu~Namhae Undersea Tunnel,’ has passed the preliminary feasibility study by the Ministry of Economy and Finance after four setbacks, 23 years later.

On the 24th, the Ministry of Economy and Finance held the ‘5th Fiscal Project Evaluation Committee’ and deliberated and approved the results of the batch preliminary feasibility study for candidate projects to be included in the 5-year plan for national and local roads construction.

This is the fruition of 23 years since July 1998, when the then Ministry of Culture and Tourism planned the construction of the Hanryeodaegyo Bridge connecting Yeosu and Namhae at the shortest distance.

Until now, the project was frustrated four times in preliminary feasibility studies in 2002 to 2005, 2011, and 2015 due to low cost-benefit ratio (B/C) in economic analysis.

The Yeosu~Namhae Undersea Tunnel connects a total of 7.3 km, including a 4.2 km undersea tunnel section from Sangam-dong, Yeosu City to Seomyeon, Namhae County, a 1.73 km land tunnel, and a 1.37 km access road, with a national budget investment of 682.4 billion KRW.

If opened as planned in 2027, a broad east-west transportation axis will be formed along the southern coast, and the travel time, which currently takes 1 hour and 30 minutes via Gwangyang in Jeonnam and Hadong in Gyeongnam, will be shortened to just 10 minutes, making the 30-minute joint living zone between Yeosu City and Namhae County visible.

Yeosu=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Sim Kyung-taek simkt7@asiae.co.kr

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