Yongin City to Install Automatic Entry Barriers at Dongbaek Jukjeon-daero Soundproof Tunnel

Inadequate Disaster Response to Fire at Existing Manual Barriers
Mayor Isang-il: "Actively Correcting Reasonable Issues Raised"

Yongin City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 6th that it has decided to replace the manual vehicle entry barriers with automatic ones at the soundproof tunnel section of Dongbaek-Jukjeon Boulevard connecting Yongin Jukjeon District and Dongbaek District, specifically at the Jukjeon Intersection.

This replacement decision follows concerns that the manual entry barriers, with their operating devices located 4.5 meters high, make it difficult to respond quickly in emergencies such as fires. Typically, vehicle entry barriers are installed at the entrances of underpasses or tunnels to prevent secondary accidents in case of fires or heavy rain.

Dongbaek Jukjeon-daero Jukjeon Soundproof Tunnel view. The manual vehicle entry barrier has been removed by the decision of Yongin City.
[Photo by Yongin City]

A Yongin City official explained, "Following a citizen's request on Mayor Lee Sang-il's social media (SNS) to inspect the condition of the tunnel entry barriers, we conducted an inspection and made this decision."

As a result of the inspection, the city plans to dismantle the manual entry barrier at the Jukjeon Intersection soundproof tunnel section, which is 280 meters long and 20 meters wide and opened in 2015, on the Jukjeon→Dongbaek direction due to operational issues, and install an automatic barrier after securing the budget.

Yongin City has 24 tunnels, 25 soundproof tunnels, and 22 underpasses. Among these, automatic vehicle barriers are installed in four locations: Beophwa Tunnel, Mabuk Tunnel, Giheung Tunnel, and Jukjeon Underpass.

The automatic vehicle barriers are operated by the local district office’s Disaster Countermeasures Comprehensive Situation Room, which monitors real-time situations via CCTV and remotely activates the vehicle entry barriers in case of emergencies.

Although not mandatory, the city also plans to install automatic vehicle barriers next year at Sammakgok 1st and 2nd Underpasses and Sanghyeon Underpass, which have high vehicle traffic.

Mayor Lee said, "If citizens provide reasonable and good suggestions through various channels, we will promptly inspect the sites and quickly change or fix anything that requires administrative action."