The Road to Seoul Station Expands... Wonhyo Bridge Widened to 3 Lanes

Yongsan-gu 'Wonhyogado Bridge Improvement Project' Reaches Agreement in Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission Mediation... Firm Commitment to Alleviate Residents' Inconvenience and Enhance Benefits... Agreement to Expand Road and Establish Pedestrian Passage During Wonhyogado Bridge Improvement... Construction Cost Burden Ratio: Yongsan-gu 55%, Korea Rail Network Authority 45%

Yongsan-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Park Hee-young) accepted the mediation proposal from the Collective Complaint Mediation Meeting hosted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission on the 31st of last month at the Yongsan-gu Office main conference room. The mediation meeting was held in response to residents' complaints demanding traffic measures for the improvement construction of Wonhyo Bridge on the Gyeongbu Line.

According to the acceptance of the mediation proposal, Yongsan-gu and the Korea National Railway Corporation will mutually agree to expand the lower road of Wonhyo Bridge from the existing 4-lane two-way road to a 5-lane road and establish an alternative pedestrian passage.

Looking into the details, to resolve the habitual bottleneck on the lower road of Wonhyo Bridge, the bridge pillars will be maintained to expand the lower road towards Seoul Station from 2 lanes one-way to 3 lanes, and the pedestrian path that will be lost due to this will be newly established around Wonhyo Bridge as a separate alternative pedestrian passage.

The cost for road expansion and pedestrian passage establishment will be borne 55% by the district and 45% by the corporation.

Attending the mediation meeting were Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, Kim Hong-il, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, Lee Gye-seung, Head of the Metropolitan Headquarters of the Korea National Railway Corporation, and Son Jin-woo, a resident representative.

Meanwhile, Wonhyo Bridge, adjacent to Namyeong Station subway, is an 87-year-old aged railway bridge connecting Seoul Station and Yongsan Station. Currently, about 940 train operations occur daily. In the 2021 safety inspection, it was diagnosed with a safety grade of C, raising ongoing safety concerns, and the corporation has been promoting a project to fully renovate the aged steel bridge with concrete.

At a project briefing held by the corporation in April, about 1,600 residents from Namyeong-dong, Cheongpa-dong, and Wonhyo-ro 1(il)-dong near Wonhyo Bridge first raised complaints demanding measures against traffic congestion and safety, and due to continued complaints, the construction is currently halted.

Residents are concerned that the lower road of Wonhyo Bridge is a habitual congestion section with heavy traffic towards Seoul Station or Wonhyo Bridge, but during the approximately 50-month construction period, about 39 months will be limited to a 2-lane two-way road, worsening traffic congestion. The main content of the complaints is that road expansion to alleviate traffic congestion should be carried out simultaneously with the improvement construction. The proposed plan is to secure the existing pedestrian path as a roadway to expand from 4 lanes two-way to 5 lanes and establish a separate pedestrian passage.

Accordingly, Yongsan-gu actively listened to residents' opinions and took steps to resolve the complaints, but during the Wonhyo Bridge improvement construction, differences in institutional positions arose regarding cost-sharing due to differing applicable laws for road expansion and pedestrian passage establishment, leading the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission to mediate.

The district and the corporation presented their opinions on the contentious cost burden issue, and the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission collected, mediated, and proposed alternatives. During this process, seven rounds of complaint consultations were held. The district, corporation, and residents all accepted the mediation proposal presented by the Commission, resulting in the establishment of the mediation.

Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, said, “I am pleased that the efforts over the past several months to resolve the long-standing wishes of the residents have borne fruit,” and added, “After the reasonable mediation by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the district and the corporation will cooperate to safely complete the remaining construction.”

Before the mediation meeting, near Wonhyo Bridge, Park Hee-young, Mayor of Yongsan-gu, Kim Hong-il, Chairman of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, and others received a briefing from the Head of Facility Improvement at the Korea National Railway Corporation on the overview of the improvement construction, progress, complaint demands, and the scheduled work plan, followed by an on-site inspection.

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