Yongsan-gu, 'Creating Safe Routes to School' Environmental Improvement of Yongam Elementary School Commute Paths

Forming a School Commute Safety TF to Discuss Safety Measures for Commute Routes at Wonhyo Elementary and Seobinggo Elementary

Before and after views of the pedestrian deck on the school route. Provided by Yongsan-gu.

Yongsan-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Park Hee-young) announced on the 21st that it has completed environmental improvement construction around the school route of Yongam Elementary School to create a safe route for students going to and from school.

The road from 53-2 to 31, Sowol-ro 40-gil, used by Yongam Elementary School students as their school route, is a mixed pedestrian and vehicle road about 5 meters wide. The vehicle routes in the school zone and pedestrian routes overlapped, raising concerns about safety accidents for children during their commute.

To resolve this, the district removed greenery and trees around the school route that obstructed the view of drivers and pedestrians, and installed a 2-meter-wide, 140-meter-long pedestrian deck. The project budget was a total of 1 billion KRW, with 700 million KRW supported by national funds.

Before constructing the pedestrian deck to ensure a safe route for elementary school students, the district prioritized maintenance of traffic safety facilities in the school zone in the second half of 2022. This included installing traffic safety facility signs, reorganizing no-parking lines, maintaining speed limit road markings, and installing new closed-circuit (CCTV) speed enforcement cameras.

District Mayor Park Hee-young said, “We thank the parents who patiently waited for a long time until the Yongam Elementary pedestrian path was created,” and added, “We will continue to do our best to improve the environment around school routes so that children can safely commute to and from school.”

Meanwhile, the district has formed and is operating a School Safety Task Force (TF) team starting this month. The TF team consists of three working groups (Facility Maintenance, Environmental Management, Safety Education) and one support group (Yongsan Police Station, Jungbu Office of Education). On the 12th, the TF also discussed measures to secure safety on the school routes of Wonhyo Elementary School and Seobinggo Elementary School.