Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) is pushing a plan to use the space under elevated roads (viaducts) as mixed-use areas where commercial facilities and logistics facilities coexist. The idea is to create a new model that combines community amenities and urban logistics functions such as parcel delivery. Since many spaces under viaducts are used only in limited ways, such as parking lots or sports facilities, or are left idle, this is an attempt to raise their utilization. If the project is successfully commercialized, it is expected to set a new standard for using idle space under viaducts nationwide.
According to relevant ministries on the 18th, Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) has begun to prepare a mixed-use development model for about 25,100 square meters (about 7,590 pyeong) under the Bucheon viaduct on the Capital Region First Ring Expressway. The target section is P28–P41 of the Bucheon viaduct.
The core of this concept is to place community amenities and logistics facilities together in the space under viaducts that has long had low utilization. The intent goes beyond merely using idle space to build a business model that can secure both commercial viability and public interest at the same time.
For a long time, the space under viaducts has been left as dark, blighted idle space and perceived as facilities that damage the urban landscape. Some local governments have used them as parks, sports facilities, or parking lots, but the scope of use has been limited. Meanwhile, logistics demand continues to grow, especially in the Seoul metropolitan area, while sites to build logistics facilities in urban centers are increasingly scarce.
In response, the corporation is reviewing ways to place facilities that residents can use, such as commercial facilities or parking lots, together with logistics facilities. The idea is to create a new business model that maintains logistics functions while raising community acceptance. At the commercialization stage, the corporation is considering selecting a private operator to run the site, and a model of leasing logistics space to small and midsize logistics and parcel delivery companies is being discussed.
Overseas, including in Japan, there are relatively many cases of using space under viaducts for commercial facilities or logistics and warehousing, but there are still few fully established large-scale mixed-use development models at home or abroad that systematically combine commercial facilities with urban logistics functions.
A Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) official said, "In line with the government's everyday logistics policy, we are promoting logistics projects that use space under bridges, but from residents' perspective, there are aspects of low preference," and added, "We are reviewing a mixed model that brings in both logistics facilities and community amenities to find a way to meet policy goals and local demand at the same time."