[One Day 10,000 Steps, One Day 1,000 Characters] Chuncheon Also Falls for Barefoot... Springnae Barefoot Pilot Project Launched

With the barefoot walking craze spreading, Chuncheon City is also promoting various projects where people can walk barefoot right outside their homes. Chuncheon City will invest 70 million KRW this year to launch a pilot project called Bomnae Barefoot Road starting in October. Bomnae Barefoot Road is a project that creates walking spaces using eco-friendly materials such as loess, sandy soil, and alluvial soil. Through this, the city plans to increase citizens' happiness index and aim to become a city of happy life that pursues healthy body and mind.

The project sites include 0.2 km at Seoksa Neighborhood Park near the entrance of Hoban Gymnasium and 1.3 km along Gongjicheon from Hoban Bridge to Hyoja Bridge. Before the full-scale implementation, the city plans to benchmark excellent cases that already operate eco-friendly walkways to check operational issues and improvements, reflecting them in the pilot project. Additionally, after promoting the Bomnae Barefoot Road pilot project, the city will analyze resident response and management status to expand barefoot roads within urban parks in 2024, including 1.5 km in the former Camp Page Climate Response Urban Forest, 1.0 km in Udu Neighborhood Park, 0.5 km in Chunghon Neighborhood Park, and 0.3 km in Seoksa Neighborhood Park. Along with this, the 2.6 km route from Gongjicheon Hyoja Bridge to Seoksa Bridge will be extended so that citizens can easily practice healthy living within their living areas. In particular, continuous maintenance will be carried out to ensure no inconvenience for citizens using barefoot walking on nearby urban hiking trails.

Citizens participating in the 'Bomnaegil, Mulle-gil. Cross!' event held by Chuncheon City on September 9 at the Uiam Dam parking lot
[Photo by Chuncheon City]

According to local community health statistics, Chuncheon ranks 5th in walking practice rate within Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province. There is a need to create walking paths around living areas considering the economically active population and elderly users. A city official said, "Since difficulties in managing the Bomnae Barefoot Road are expected after its creation, we ask citizens to take the lead in managing the barefoot road so that it can be used comfortably and safely by everyone."

The city will hold the ‘2023 Health Sharing Center with Citizens’ event at Uiam Park in Gongjicheon on the 14th. Under the theme "A Good Day to Travel to a Healthy Village," the event will feature health-related exhibitions, promotional booths, experience zones, and a healing lounge supporting mental health recovery. Additionally, it will host the Health Golden Bell contest to select the strongest health knowledge champion, the Strong Playground group fitness tournament, and operate programs such as plogging, running, InBody body composition checks, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation training.