'Collapse' Seongnam Jeongja Bridge, Detailed Safety Inspection Begins on 31st

Seongnam City Hall

Seongnam City in Gyeonggi Province began a detailed safety inspection service for Jeongja Bridge on the 31st.

During the 100-day detailed safety inspection service, Seongnam City will consult with the Bundang Police Station in September, based on the preliminary structural safety inspection results, to decide whether to open lanes in order to reduce inconvenience to citizens caused by vehicle restrictions before the final service results are available.

After the collapse of the Jeongja Bridge sidewalk section in April, investigative agencies and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport conducted an accident site investigation and inspection of Jeongja Bridge until June. Following the removal of accident debris in June, Seongnam City was able to bid for the detailed safety inspection service in July, leading to the commencement of the service this time.

A Seongnam City official stated, "Although the detailed safety inspection is ongoing, if the preliminary structural safety inspection results are confirmed to be adequate, we will consult with the Bundang Police Station to decide on lane opening. We plan to use 4 out of the total 6 lanes, with 2 lanes for vehicles and 2 lanes for pedestrians."

Earlier, based on the structural analysis results of the Jeongja Bridge deck slab by the Korea Infrastructure Safety Corporation and the concrete vibration evaluation by Seongnam City's safety management advisory group, both structural safety and usability were confirmed to be adequate. Consequently, on July 14, a temporary pedestrian walkway was installed and opened on the Jeongja Bridge roadway section.

Meanwhile, in July, Seongnam City filed a lawsuit for damages against Kumho Construction, the contractor of Jeongja Bridge, and requested the appointment of an appraiser. The Suwon District Court Seongnam Branch, which has jurisdiction, is expected to designate the Korean Society of Civil Engineers as the appraisal institution. Accordingly, the collapsed sidewalk section of Jeongja Bridge has not been demolished to preserve the original state and for on-site investigation.

Seongnam City plans to demolish the collapsed sidewalk section and begin reconstruction work once the appraisal institution completes the on-site investigation and appraisal of Jeongja Bridge, aiming to complete the construction by the first half of next year.

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