North Chungcheong Launches Petition to Expand Major Highways After 20 Years of Delays

North Chungcheong Province has started a province-wide campaign to revive highway expansion projects that have spent two decades in feasibility studies.

The province wants the Jungbu Expressway sections between Jeungpyeong and Hobeop, covering 54.2 kilometres, and between Seocheongju and Jeungpyeong, covering 15.8 kilometres, expanded from four lanes to six. It is also seeking an increase from eight to 10 lanes on the 18.9-kilometre Hoe-deok to Cheongju section of the Gyeongbu Expressway.

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The Jungbu Expressway sections in North Chungcheong have seen industrial and logistics traffic surge.

According to the provincial government, the sections targeted for expansion on the Jungbu Expressway carry an average of 84,000 vehicles a day, 58.4% above its stated suitable level of 53,000. Traffic on the Gyeongbu section averages 130,000 vehicles a day, 26.7% above the cited capacity of 102,600.

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Expansion is urgent.

Lee Byung-min, an official in the province’s roads department, linked the increase to industrial and logistics traffic. The number of industrial complexes in Cheongju, Eumseong and Jincheon grew from 21 in 2001 to 78 this year, he said. Traffic also increased around the Daedeok Research Complex in Daejeon.

The Korea Development Institute began another feasibility study in January. Previous studies produced benefit-cost ratios of 1.26 for the Eumseong to Hobeop expansion in 2006, and 1.03 and 1.63 for separate sections in 2008. A 2021 study of the Seocheongju to Jeungpyeong section produced a ratio of 0.77. The province plans to collect signatures at government offices, welfare centres and highway rest areas before presenting them to the government.

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The expansion of the Jungbu and Gyeongbu expressways is a long-standing priority for North Chungcheong.