Korea’s longest underwater tunnel opened on the west coast
27 December 2021SEOUL, Nov. 30, 2021 (YONHAP News) – Authorities announced that South Korea’s longest underwater tunnel has been opened on the west coast after 11 years of construction.
Korea's new underwater tunnel
The Boryeong underwater tunnel is 6.9 kilometres long. It was built to connect the port of Daecheon in Boryeong, about 190 km south of Seoul, to Wonsan Island in Taean County.
The new tunnel has four lanes located 55 metres and 80 metres below sea level. It was officially opened to traffic at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 1 December 2021. As a result, officials added that the travel time between Boryeong and Taean will be reduced from 80 minutes to 10 minutes.
The tunnel was built with government spending of 485.3 billion won ($408 million). As a result, it will not have a toll, they noted.
South Korea's longest underwater tunnel
The Boryeong tunnel is 1.5km longer than the underwater tunnel in the northern port of Incheon. The latter, located west of Seoul and 5.46 km long, was until now the longest underwater tunnel in South Korea. Furthermore, on a global scale, the Boryeong Tunnel is the fifth longest underwater tunnel dedicated to vehicle traffic after the Tokyo Bay Aqualine (9.5 km) in Japan, the Bomlafjord Tunnel (7.8 km) in Norway and two other underwater tunnels in the European country.
Including land tunnels, the Boryeong Tunnel is the third longest in the country after the Inje-Yangyang Tunnel of the Seoul Expressway (10.96 km) and the Yangbuk 1 Tunnel of the Donghae Expressway (7.54 km).
A grand opening ceremony
The government held a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday attended by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, South Chungcheong Province Governor Yang Seung-jo and 200 other officials and residents.
“It took 11 years to build the Boryeong Underwater Tunnel and its connecting roads between Boryeong and Taean. I am very impressed that there was not a single fatal accident during the more than 4,000 days of construction” Kim said. Moreover, he hopes the tunnel will boost local tourism.
Photo: A bus and cars carrying government officials drive through the Boryeong underwater tunnel in central South Korea during a test run on Nov. 30, 2021.
This article was published by YONHAP news agency
