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Seoul Station overpass blocked off for remodeling
By Lee Kyung-min
By Lee Kyung-min
The overpass next to Seoul Station was completely closed to car traffic on Sunday as part of the city government’s plan to remodel it into an elevated park.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) announced Sunday the closure of the overpass, 45 years after it was first opened in 1970 as a major transport route for manufactured goods for a large number of merchants in and around Namdaemun Market. It was considered a symbol of Korea’s 1960s-70s rapid industrialization.
However, safety concerns were raised over the old structure after it received the lowest possible rating in a safety inspection in 2012.
Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon plans to turn the 1.15-kilometer overpass into a rest area and tourist attraction similar to New York’s High Line Park by 2017 with a total budget of 38 billion won.
According to SMG, motorists are now to take a detour using Yeomcheon Bridge north of Seoul Station, or the underpass located south near Sookmyung Women’s University. Up to seven more minutes are expected to make the trip.
Police officers will be dispatched to help direct motorists to make correct turns, and a new bus route numbered 8001 passing near the station will be newly set up to help encourage citizens to use public transport.
The traffic control plans followed the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s official cooperation, after the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport approved the SMG’s plan last month.
The ministry’s determination followed a safety inspection conducted three years earlier, which concluded that the old structure poses a greater risk of collapse.
In the report, the ministry also said that no major traffic problems are expected once the overpass is turned into a walkway.
Earlier, the regional police agency has been delaying the traffic control plan, citing public inconvenience due to the heavy traffic expected.
Following the traffic plan, the SMG will launch a number of construction projects to expedite the remodeling plan.
Some slabs of the overpass will be removed starting next week, and all will be fully removed by April next year.
Walkways will be set up to minimize pedestrians’ inconvenience, connecting Namdaemun Market, Malli-dong, Mt. Nam, and metro and bus transfer stations. In the elevated park project, the city plans to build 17 pedestrian passages there. Flower shops, drug stores and a museum also will be set up nearby.
In the meantime, opposition from merchants still remains a concern.
While SMG claims that merchants on both sides of the overpass would not suffer directly from the closure, the latter claim that their businesses will greatly deteriorate due to reduced number of visitors there. The said that not enough countermeasures were offered for them.
Shortly after the plan was announced in April last year, the government and the ruling Saenuri Party criticized Mayor Park for what they deemed was a stepping stone towards realizing his presidential ambitions.