Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon Visits Crack Site at Seongsan Bridge South End: "Forming External Expert TF to Proceed with Reinforcement Work"

"Apologies for the Incident That May Cause Citizens' Anxiety"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon announced that he plans to strictly investigate the construction process through the Audit Committee regarding the floor cracks on the southern end of Seongsan Bridge and to form a task force (TF) team composed of external experts to carry out reinforcement work.

On the 24th, Mayor Oh visited the Seongsan Bridge site and said, "I feel sorry as the mayor that an incident causing citizens to feel uneasy has occurred," adding, "Although I have been reported that there is no immediate major safety issue, after identifying the cause of the accident and listening to the circumstances, we concluded that a more precise safety inspection is necessary."

Seongsan Bridge had completed performance improvement work since January 2018, but cracks appeared less than a year after the reinforcement work was completed in March last year. Ha Hyun-seok, head of the civil engineering department, explained, "The cracks occurred because the precast elements were moved and the height did not match, and as they stabilized slightly to fit, cracks formed," adding, "We currently judge that the deformation has stabilized."

In response, Mayor Oh plans to examine whether there were any deficiencies or mistakes during the construction and supervision processes through the Audit Committee to prevent recurrence. He emphasized, "Seongsan Bridge is a very important bridge with the second highest traffic volume after Hannam Bridge, so we determined that there must be no safety issues, even minor ones," and added, "An audit is necessary, and based on third-party experts, we will form a TF, conduct another inspection to identify the cause, and then take measures to ensure that the reinforcement work guarantees safety."

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