Smooth traffic on first day of lunar new year`s exodus from capital

Inchon International Airport, expected to become the hub of passenger and cargo transportation in Northeast Asia, will open as scheduled on March 29.

The West Coast Highway from Inchon to Mokpo and the Taejon-Chinju Highway will also open this year.

Work to expand the current two-lane Wonju-Kangnung section of the Yongdong Highway to four lanes will be completed this year, together with construction work on the Taegwallyong Pass tunnel. Completion of the work will make for a drastic expansion of the traffic network linking east and west, and south and north.

Construction and Transportation Minister Kim Yoon-Ki briefed President Kim Dae-Jung on these and other ministry initiatives in a meeting at the Cheong Wa Dae presidential office.

Minister Kim said that the entire West Coast Highway will be open by the end of 2001, with the opening of the Tangjin-Kunsan section slated for September and the last section, between Kunsan and Mokpo, to go online at the end of this year. Currently, only the Inchon-Tangjin section is in operation.

He also said that all sections of the four-lane Chunchon-Taegu Central Highway would be put into full operation by the end of this year, with the section between Wonju and Hongchon scheduled to open in September.

Work to expand the four-lane Hanam-Hobop section of the Chungbu Highway to eight lanes also will be finished this year, the minister said.

The opening of the Taejon-Chinju Highway this year is expected to greatly contribute to reducing the traffic volume on the Seoul-Pusan Kyongbu Highway and Honam Highway and drastically reduce the travel time to the southern coast.

Kim said the completion of the highway construction and expansion work, which covers about 450km, would give the nation's road transportation network a capacity of about 450,000 vehicles a day, thus sharply easing traffic congestion during next year's holiday seasons. The network currently has a capacity of about 260,000 vehicles.

To allow easier access to Inchon International Airport, the government will this year begin construction of an airport railroad and a second bridge linking the mainland to Yongjong-do Island off Inchon, where the airport is located, the minister said.

Regular route buses will be operated between the airport and 19 major cities like Seoul and Suwon, he added.

To facilitate development of the new airport into the hub of Northeast Asia, areas adjacent to the airport will be designated as international business and tariff-free zones, the report said.