Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Conducts Intensive Inspection of General National Road Pavement Conditions: "Repairs for Potholes and Sinkholes"

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 8th that it will conduct a two-week intensive inspection of road pavements to strengthen safety management against summer road hazards such as potholes.

Pothole on the road / Photo by Yonhap News

Potholes frequently occur after heavy rains and pose a significant threat to drivers' safety during the summer. This year, due to record-breaking rainfall during the monsoon season followed by sustained heatwaves, pavement damage on national roads has increased more than 2.5 times compared to previous years. According to the Ministry, the number of road pothole cases recorded in June and July was 3,350 last year and 8,609 this year.

Accordingly, the 18 regional land management offices nationwide have designated the period from the 9th to the 23rd of this month as the intensive road pavement inspection period, during which they will repair the entire general national road network (12,085 km), excluding sections managed by local governments. Moving away from temporary patch repairs, large-scale and frequently occurring vulnerable sections will undergo permanent restoration at the level of repaving by milling the road surface and applying high-strength asphalt to prevent repeated recurrence.

During the inspection process, if hazards such as ground subsidence, sinkholes, or underground cavities are detected, safety management will be strengthened by implementing preventive measures through detailed inspections by specialized institutions such as the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology.

Additionally, the Ministry plans to actively utilize digital-based road management systems, including AI-based automatic detection system vehicles and road damage and crack analysis systems, to inspect wide areas quickly and accurately with minimal personnel.

Citizens can report inconveniences such as potholes in real time through the smartphone app "Road Use Inconvenience Quick Resolution Service." Reported issues are promptly addressed by the relevant road management authorities, and the processing results can also be checked.

Han Seong-su, Director of the Road Management Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "To prevent repeated inconvenience to the public caused by potholes and pavement damage, we will introduce advanced technologies and expand high-quality pavement to transition to a proactive and permanent road maintenance management system."

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