Question:  Can you please introduce us to the ceremony for the 23rd Road Day and its significance?

Answer: Road Day has been held every July 7 since 1992 to commemorate the opening of the Seoul-Busan Expressway on July 7, 1970, to encourage the spirit of those engaged in the development of technologies for road construction and economic development both at home and abroad.

The 23rd Road Day ceremony was attended by some 700 government officials led by 2nd Vice Minister Yeo Hyung-koo of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and executives of construction and engineering companies led by Chairman Kim Hak-song of the Korea Road Transportation Association at the K-Seoul Hotel in Seoul on July 7.

At the ceremony, 15 people in the construction industry were awarded medals and citations in recognition of their contributions to the development of roads in Korea. A publicity event for the successful hosting of the 25th Road Conference in Seoul in November also took place.

Second Vice Minister Yeo called for faithful safety measures to keep the roads safe throughout the country by increasing investments toward that end. He also said they should maximize the effectiveness of the investments to expand convenience for the people, although funding sources are insufficient at the current term. 

Q:  What is the current status of the expressway network around the country and the outlook for the future?  

A: The construction of the highways are progressing based on the second road repair basic plan (2011-2020) with seven south-north axes, nine axes from east to west, and six circulatory networks around the six metropolitan cities with 7,266 km of arterial road network to be built. Currently, 58 percent, or 4,189 km, has been opened and the remaining 23 percent or 1,683 km is either being designed or being built.

The remaining roads will continuously be built so that all locations can be reached in the most efficient manner.

Dir.-Gen. Kim Il-pyeong. Road Bureau of the 

Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.(Photo:MOLIT)

Q:  After the Sewol ferry disaster, is safety the top priority in road policies?

A: In order to make the highways and installations safer, we have turned the highway management system into a preventive system and at the same time strengthened an emergency system to handle with accidents.

In consideration of the expansion in the lengths of highways under management and with installations aging, we plan to boost one management system to that of advanced nations in varied ways.

We plan to install CCTV in the tunnels whose total lengths are less than 1 km long and increase the manpower and installations on highways to strengthen the overall system to fight accidents.

Excessive loading of trucks has been the main culprit for bridge collapses and the erosion of highways These practices are  hard to stop due mainly to weak disciplinary measures that have been too lenient and are limited to only from half million won to three million won in fines when caught.

In 2011, some 45,000 cases of excessive over loading were caught, 56,000 cases in 2012, and 47,000 cases in 2013. A 50-ton truck with an excess load can damage bridges 17 times worse than a 40-ton truck.

We have been working on various ways to improve the situation including improved ways to check overloaded trucks by devising a preventive system and levying heavier punishments for overloading, among other strategies.

Q:  What about the plan to build “smart” roads?

A:  The plan is intended to reduce the number of accidents on highways by detecting abrupt situations developing on highways such as sudden stops, something falling on the highway, and automobiles in trouble and issuing warnings by developing technologies to address such issues and test them by the end of the year and expand their uses.

On Smart Highways, WAVE, a technological radar for the exchange of information, panoramic CCTVs with automatic detection technologies to detect sudden incidents on the highways such as fallen rocks and collisions involving cars will be installed. WAVE (wireless in vehicles environment) enables vehicles running at high speed on highways to detect the positions of vehicles nearby, road conditions ahead, fallen materials, and dangerous situations through wireless communication facilities installed on roadsides.

The communication among vehicles is possible within 500 meters including their position, speed, and other conditions, so that they will be able to prevent so-called secondary accidents that occur when vehicles are unable to detect the sudden stops or unexpected incidents ahead.

Q:  How are the preparations for the 25th Seoul World Road Conference going and what is it all about?

A:  We have been doing everything to make the 25th Seoul World Road Conference scheduled for Nov. 2, 2015, a great success.

Its main theme is “Roads, Mobility-New Value Creation in the Area of Road Transportation,” and the meeting breaks down to a ministers’ meeting, an academic meeting, and an exhibition, among others, with some 35,000 people from 120 countries expected to participate including ministers and vice ministers from some 50 countries.

In July of last year, the organizing committee was launched and has been engaged in various activities since then including the publicity campaign and the make up of the programs to prepare for the world conference next year.

The programs will be designed to allow the foreign participants to experience Korea’s culture, road construction technologies, and other things. Also scheduled is the 102nd REAAA directors meeting in Seoul during the world road event next year to attract many Asian countries to participate in the world road event.

Q:  What are long and mid-term road construction plans?

A: In accordance with the revised Road Law in January, every 10 years the national Road Integrated Plan will be set up, and every five years the management and construction plans for highways, national roads, and other roads will be set up.

Accordingly, from 2016 to 2020 an assignment plan to draw up road construction plans is being promoted. During the process, long-term targets and promotional strategies, implementation plans by road, and steps will be studied, taking into consideration what local autonomous organizations want and changed transportation conditions. Based on the study results, plans will be consolidated in the second half of next year for more systematic and effective road construction.  

A scene of the traffic management office where the traffic 

conditions of major avenues is monitored. (Photos:KEC)