The projects to put the Inner Ring Road and the Bukbu Urban Expressway, which cut across northern Seoul, underground will move forward in earnest. The construction of the "Gangbuk crosstown underground urban expressway" was a key pledge in the June 3 local elections that Mayor Oh Se-hoon released to ease traffic congestion in northern Seoul and promote balanced regional development, and City Hall plans to complete the project blueprint by next year.
According to Seoul City Hall and others on the 4th, the city will place an order this month for a plan to establish an implementation plan to draw up detailed concepts for building the Gangbuk crosstown underground urban expressway. The service fee is 1 billion won, and the service period is 12 months from the start date. A Seoul city official said, "If the supplementary budget bill passes next week, we plan to publish a bid notice for the service in the middle to late part of this month," adding, "Based on the service results, we will discuss the project with the policy council and push it forward."
An implementation plan is a comprehensive plan that organizes specific measures such as construction costs invested from groundbreaking to completion, processes, construction methods, and site management. The scope of work for the service includes traffic analysis, route planning, review of plans for setting the start and end points and the locations of interchanges (IC) and junctions (JCT), and a feasibility study.
A comparative review will also be conducted on whether to proceed as a fiscal project or a private investment project. Initially, Seoul City Hall said it would proceed entirely as a fiscal project, but it also decided to review a plan to maximize project efficiency by combining fiscal input with attracting private capital.
Visiting the Bukbu Urban Expressway in December last year, Mayor Oh said, "The Gangbuk crosstown underground urban expressway will simultaneously deliver relief from chronic traffic jams, improve the cityscape, and enhance citizen safety," adding, "In response to travel demand from more than 40,000 additional homes to be supplied in northern Seoul, we will transform everyday life for Gangbuk residents and bring forward the 'heyday of Gangbuk.'"
The project is divided into two phases. Phase one covers a 20.5-kilometer section from the Inner Ring Road's Seongsan IC to the Bukbu Urban Expressway's Sinnye IC, under which a six-lane, two-way underground road will be built, and the elevated overpasses and structures above will be demolished. The project cost is 3.4 trillion won. Phase two spans a 6.5-kilometer section from Hawolgok JCT to Seongdong JCT, and the city will proceed after comprehensively considering traffic conditions, surrounding circumstances, and finances. The goal is to break ground in 2030 and complete the project in 2037.
In addition, starting this month, the city will resume operation of the "Gangbuk crosstown underground urban expressway policy council," with resident representatives, experts by field, and participation from the city and districts. The council was launched in March, but because ex officio city and district council members changed in the local elections, the council will be reorganized and discussions will continue. A total of 67 people from the public, private, and academic sectors will participate, centered on six autonomous districts: Mapo, Seodaemun, Jongno, Seongbuk, Jungnang, and Nowon.