A forum discussed ways of developing digital convergence for Korea’s future roads.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) and Korea Road Association held an event on the occasion of the 2023 Road Day at the Construction Hall in Seoul on July 7.
The 2023 Road Day anniversary event was held under the theme “50 Years for Nationwide Traffic Flow, 100 Years for Future Connectivity,” celebrating the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Honam-Namhae Expressway, a symbol for “East-West conciliation.”
Road Day falls on July 7 to celebrate the opening of the Gyeongbu (Seoul-Busan) Expressway on July 7, 1970, a driving force behind national economic development and industrial growth.
The nation has observed the Road Day anniversary every year since 1992 to instill people in the road and transportation industries with a sense of pride and promote the development of the road industry.
Among those on hand at the anniversary event were MOLIT 2nd Vice Minister Baek Won-kug, Chairman Ham Jin-gyu of Korea Road Association, and about 500 people in the road and transportation industries.
Forty-three people were presented with the MOLIT minister’s prize in recognition of their contribution to the development of the road and transportation industries.
The anniversary ceremony coincided with diverse events, such as policy seminars and exhibitions.
The seminars and exhibitions included seminars on road infrastructure digital transformation policy and calculating the appropriate land and construction project costs, as well as exhibitions on KEC’s outstanding tech and R&D technologies related to the 4th Industrial Revolution.
At a policy seminar on road infrastructure digital transformation, Tak Sae-hyun, a researcher with Korea Transport Institute, spoke of the direction of classifying digital roads for self-driving and cooperation driving while Chairman Chae Chan-deul of the Future Road Subcommittee at Korea Society for Road Engineers proposed the direction of road infrastructure digital transformation.
In his commemorative speech, MOLIT Vice Minister Baek said, “The government will make joint efforts so roads can have more aggressive roles as a mobility platform offering services connecting several transportation means - beyond the simple transportation infrastructure facility concept - and digital convergence for future roads can be built for people’s safety and convenience.”
Chairman Ham Jin-gyu, of Korea Road Association and concurrently president of Korea Expressway Corp., said, “Korea’s road technology has been improved more than levels of advanced countries and homegrown road technologies have been highly evaluated abroad.”
He called for exploring overseas markets in cooperation with construction companies by making the most of outstanding homegrown road technologies.
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