Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC) has been doing all it can to help make the PyeongChang Winter Olympics a success by making sure that all highways leading to the venues are in top condition. Workers have been repairing parts of the highways, including Yongdong and Chungbu highways, that had been in need of repairs. Some 540 billion won was spent on the upgrades.
The KEC, led by President Lee Kang-rae, said it signed an agreement with the Organizing Committee of the winter sports extravaganza, pledging to do everything in its power to make sure all highways leading to venues are in good shape.
The KEC will allocate 5 billion won to the organizing committee, with 3.9 billion won provided in cash, while the rest will be donated in the form of highway tolls not collected during the Olympics and Paralympics at the end of March.
In addition, the KEC will dispatch 50 of its own people to the committee to help in such areas as the transportation plans and the management of personnel working on transportation areas of sports events.
The KEC will also allow vehicles belonging to the winter sports event organizing committee and other vehicles used for official purposes to pass through tollgates free of charge during the winter Olympics.
The KEC invested 463.8 billion won to improve highways, which including repairs and upgrades to highway management facilities and systems (13.3 billion won). Some 2.1 billion won went to building multi-lane passes to ensure that highways leading to venues are safe to drive on at the cost of 510.9 billion won. Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC) devotes itself to promoting environment-oriented expressway construction and technology development as part of its efforts to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The KEC has developed an emissions calculation program for use in the construction of expressways and is implementing a voluntary agreement on GHG emissions with a target of reducing some 72,000 tons of emissions from expressway construction sites over two years.
The corporation advanced the completion of three chronic bottleneck expressway routes totaling 134 km in combined length during last year, resulting in a reduction of 55,000 tons of GHG emissions, while installing photovoltaic power and other new and renewable energy facilities at service areas and branch offices across the nation.
In an effort to expand carbon sinks and restore the ecosystem, the corporation plans to plant 9.7 million trees over three years along with 13,000 native plants. It also plans to reuse about 60,000 m2 of lumber waste each year with a yearly target of reducing 100,000 tons of GHG emissions.
Closed roads covering 100,000 m2 in 10 locations will be restored with new soil and transplanted trees, while interchange greenery areas will be transformed into multi-purpose ecological areas and wetlands to promote biodiversity and have an effect of absorbing about 3,000 tons of carbon yearly.
The Jeonju Arboretum, established by the KEC in Banwoel-dong, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju, is credited with contributing to restoring plants in danger of extinction by replanting 734 rare plants, having been preserved and proliferated for five years, along the Mokpo-Gwangyang Expressway.
The proliferation of the non-stop toll-collecting Hi-Pass system is designed to reduce the time spent at tollgates by one-fifth and cut down on fuel use, having an effect of reducing some 120,000 tons of GHG emissions over three years.
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