Gyeonggi-do Conducts Full Inspection of 302 Underpasses... Promotes Automatic Barrier Systems and More

by Lee YeongKyu

Published 03 Sep.2023 11:24(KST)

Flood Risk Underpass Vehicle Barrier (Upbound Lane)

Gyeonggi Province will conduct a full survey of all 302 underpasses in the province. Through this survey, Gyeonggi Province will examine the possibility of flooding due to heavy rain and typhoons, the status of safety facilities, and then invest provincial funds to establish an underpass safety system including automatic barrier facilities and closed-circuit television (CCTV).

On the 3rd, Gyeonggi Province announced that it recognized the limitations of monitoring abnormal climate monsoons and localized heavy rains solely with control personnel, and decided to strengthen underpass safety using information and communication technology (ICT).

First, this month, Gyeonggi Province will check the flood risk of all 302 underpasses in the province and promote improvement projects annually for underpasses requiring facility upgrades based on applications from cities and counties.

Until now, underpasses have only been supported by national funds and special grants, limiting improvements to safety facilities due to restricted support and city/county budgets. Therefore, Gyeonggi Province has decided to actively invest disaster management funds (provincial funds).

The main improvement projects include installing water level gauges, automatic barrier facilities, CCTV, and alarm systems in underpasses to build an underpass safety system. Once completed, various sensors such as water level gauges and CCTV will automatically monitor flooding situations in underpasses at risk of flooding, and in case of detecting crisis signs, vehicle entry and exit can be blocked automatically or remotely. Electronic display boards and alarm broadcasts will also be installed to reduce secondary damage such as collisions and traffic congestion.

Previously, Gyeonggi Province prepared and proposed to the government an improvement plan for the "Flood Risk Underpass Control and Grading Standards." The existing standards focused on past information such as flooding history and frequently flooded areas, which had limitations in responding to unpredictable climate crises like recent extreme heavy rains.