Gwangju Gwangsan-gu Selected for Model Bicycle City Contest Project

Creating a Bicycle-Friendly Environment in the Advanced District Area with a 1 Billion Investment

Gwangsan District Office in Gwangju. [Photo by Gwangju Gwangsan District]

Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju (Mayor Park Byung-gyu) has been selected for the '2024 Model Bicycle City Contest' hosted by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

With a total investment of 1 billion KRW, including 500 million KRW in national funds secured through the contest, Gwangsan-gu plans to create a bicycle-friendly environment centered around the Cheomdan district, where Gwangju City is promoting the 'Yeongsan Riverside Bicycle Village Pilot District Development Project.'

The Model Bicycle City Contest aims to foster bicycle traffic model cities so that bicycles can become a major means of transportation, and to promote and spread successful cases to other local governments.

The bicycle model city project envisioned by Gwangsan-gu will proceed on two pillars: establishing a bicycle infrastructure and fostering a safe traffic culture.

First, to enable citizens to use bicycles safely and comfortably, bicycle roads and crosswalks on Cheomdan Jungang-ro and Imbangul-daero sections will be extensively renovated, and bicycle traffic lights will be installed at intersections.

Additionally, to resolve inconveniences in passage and urban aesthetics caused by the indiscriminate abandonment of bicycles and personal mobility devices (PM), an integrated parking lot for bicycles and PMs will be installed and piloted around the Cheomdan 1 and 2-dong Administrative Welfare Centers.

To establish a safe traffic culture, the bicycle safety school will expand its curriculum to include personal mobility devices (PM) and will be operated targeting elementary, middle, and high schools within the Cheomdan district.

Gwangsan-gu plans to finalize the project plan through consultations with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s Bicycle Model City Advisory Group, proceed with detailed design in 2025, and complete the project by 2026.

Park Byung-gyu, Mayor of Gwangsan-gu, said, “Following last year’s selection as an excellent institution for bicycle use promotion by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, we are pleased to be selected for the Model Bicycle City Contest this year. We will expand infrastructure and actively develop support policies to be recognized as a bicycle-friendly Gwangsan.”