Seoul City to Improve Structures on Three Roads Including Hannam Bridge South End with Frequent Congestion and High Accident Risk

Separation Distance at 'Hannam Bridge South End' Entry/Exit Expanded from 40m to 200m to Prevent Sudden Lane Changes
New Right Entry Ramp Connecting Gangbyeonbuk-ro and Yanghwa Bridge at 'Yanghwa Bridge North End'
Measures to Resolve Chronic Congestion at Dongbu Expressway Ramps Connecting Bundang and Suseo Directions

Hannam Bridge South End Improvement Plan

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 17th that it will carry out structural improvement projects on a total of three locations with high accident risks on urban expressways based on a five-year traffic accident status analysis. These include two locations requiring road structure improvements and one habitual congestion section.

The road structure improvement project sections include ▲the southern end of Hannam Bridge ▲the northern end of Yanghwa Bridge ▲Dongbu Expressway (the connecting ramp towards Bundang-Suseo), where improvement projects such as new ramp construction and additional lanes will be implemented to alleviate congestion.

The southern end of Hannam Bridge is a section where vehicles entering from Gangnam-daero, Gyeongbu Expressway, and Apgujeong-ro cross paths while entering the Olympic-daero towards Hanam and Gimpo directions. Particularly, the distance between the entrance and exit points is very short at 40 meters, making it a high-risk area for accidents due to crossing paths. Seoul City plans to significantly expand the distance between the entrance and exit points from 40m to 200m to eliminate accident risks caused by sudden lane changes.

Vehicles entering Gangbyeonbuk-ro from the Inner Circular Road heading to Yanghwa Bridge face difficulty changing lanes due to the Mangwon underground road, with an actual lane change distance of only 250 meters, resulting in a high risk of accidents from sudden lane changes. The left entrance ramp connecting Gangbyeonbuk-ro and Yanghwa Bridge will be removed, and a new entrance ramp will be constructed on the right side, allowing vehicles entering Gangbyeonbuk-ro from the Inner Circular Road to exit directly without lane changes.

Habitual congestion on the Dongbu Expressway (connecting ramp towards Bundang-Suseo) and Cheongdam Bridge will also be resolved. First, the ramp entering Dongbu Expressway towards Bundang-Suseo from Olympic-daero will be expanded from one lane to two lanes, and the Dongbu Expressway (Tancheon 2 Overpass) will be widened from three lanes to four lanes. Seoul City expects that by expanding the lane reduction section at the southern end of Cheongdam Bridge, where congestion occurs due to vehicles using the entrance ramp, the chronic congestion at the connecting ramp towards Bundang-Suseo on Dongbu Expressway and Cheongdam Bridge will be alleviated.

Among the road structure improvement projects, roads with high accident risks will undergo basic and detailed design this year, while habitual congestion sections will conduct feasibility studies and basic planning this year, aiming for project completion in 2025. Han Je-hyun, Director of Seoul City’s Safety General Office, stated, “Road structure improvements in habitual congestion and accident-prone sections will greatly reduce traffic congestion and accident risks by dispersing traffic volume. We will continue to actively prepare supplementary and improvement measures for roads that require enhancements in the future.”