Opening of Korea's Longest 'Boryeong Undersea Tunnel'... Chungnam Launches New West Coast Tourism Belt Development

On the 30th, the opening ceremony of the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel was held in Boryeong. The Boryeong Undersea Tunnel is scheduled to officially open at 10 a.m. on the 1st of next month. Attendees are taking a commemorative photo at the opening ceremony. Photo by Chungnam Province

[Asia Economy (Hongseong) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] The Boryeong Undersea Tunnel is officially opening. Chungnam Province expects that the opening of this tunnel will create a new major tourism artery along the West Coast and plans to establish a new West Coast tourism belt.

Chungnam Province announced on the 30th that vehicle traffic through the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel will begin at 10 a.m. on the 1st of next month.

The Boryeong Undersea Tunnel was constructed with four lanes for both directions, located 55 meters below the seabed and 80 meters below sea level. The total project cost was 485.3 billion KRW, and the construction period took 11 years.

Notably, the tunnel's length is 6,927 meters, approximately 1.5 km longer than the previous longest record-holder, the Incheon North Port Undersea Tunnel.

This sets a new record for the longest undersea tunnel in South Korea and ranks fifth among the world's undersea tunnels, following Japan's Tokyo Aqua-Line (9.5 km), Norway's Boknafjord (7.9 km), Eiksund (7.8 km), and Oslofjord (7.2 km) tunnels.

The province anticipates that the opening of the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel will bring a major transformation across all sectors in the West Coast region, including cultural tourism and marine leisure.

In line with this, the province plans to make the creation of a new West Coast tourism belt more tangible. Prior to the tunnel's opening, on the 15th, Chungnam Governor Yang Seung-jo announced a comprehensive plan for the creation of the new West Coast tourism belt during a pre-opening inspection of the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel.

The comprehensive plan focuses on implementing 61 projects with a budget of 8.4579 trillion KRW, covering cultural tourism, marine leisure, expansion of transportation networks, and improvement of living conditions.

The project’s motto is to view the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel as a groundbreaking turning point across cultural tourism, marine leisure, and other fields on the West Coast, concentrating administrative efforts on establishing the new West Coast tourism belt and newly completing the domestic tourism map centered on Chungnam.

Governor Yang Seung-jo stated, “We will complete the construction of the national coastal tourism road network along the West Coast and connect the new West Coast tourism belt to create momentum for marine leisure, ecological tourism, and new industrial growth on the West Coast. Just as the new sea route is boundless, the potential of Chungnam and the West Coast is also limitless.”

Meanwhile, the province plans to continue expanding transportation networks even after the opening of the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel.

First, projects such as the ‘Boryeong-Daejeon-Boeun Expressway,’ the ‘Taean-Seosan Expressway,’ and the ‘Garorim Bay Marine Transportation’ linked to the Boryeong Undersea Tunnel will be incorporated into national plans to make project implementation more concrete.

Additionally, the province’s plan includes preparing for the establishment of a three-dimensional transportation network and attracting international tourists through the Chungnam Seosan Airport and Daesan Port international passenger ships, which are already included in preliminary feasibility study projects.

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