Gangwon State Visits Sejong to Request Transport Network Expansion, Urges Focus on Pocheon–Cheorwon Feasibility Study

【Financial News Chuncheon = Kim Ki-seop】Gangwon State directly visited central government ministries to request solutions to major social overhead capital (SOC) issues as it seeks to improve its inadequate regional transport network.
According to Gangwon State on the 15th, Deputy Governor for Economic Affairs Shin Won-cheol visited the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Planning and Budget at Government Complex Sejong in succession that day. He asked the government to include new projects in Gangwon in the Third Highway Construction Plan and the Fifth National Railway Network Development Plan, including the Pocheon–Cheorwon Expressway's passage of its preliminary feasibility study. He also requested that as many non-feasibility-study projects in the province as possible be included in the Sixth National Road and Local Road Construction Plan.
The Pocheon–Cheorwon Expressway, a key regional issue, is a project covering a 24-kilometer section with an investment of 1.3305 trillion won and is currently undergoing a preliminary feasibility study. Gangwon State emphasized that the road would improve access to border areas and provide a foundation for creating new growth hubs, including corporate investment, industrial complexes and Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) tourism. It urged the government to reflect tourism demand and the unique characteristics of border areas in the study.
The request comes against the backdrop of transport conditions that rank among the worst in the country. Only 40.8% of Gangwon State's residents can reach an expressway within 30 minutes, while it takes an average of 81 minutes to reach a railway station—twice the national average.
For highways, Gangwon State asked the government to newly include six routes totaling 523 kilometers, including Sokcho–Goseong, Chuncheon–Cheorwon and Yeongwol–Yanggu, in the Third Highway Construction Plan. The projects have a combined estimated cost of 25.6878 trillion won. For railways, it proposed adding 10 routes totaling 583.2 kilometers, including the Chunwon Line, Pyeongchang–Jeongseon Line, Taebaek–Yeongdong Line, Gyeongwon Line, GTX-B and Great Train eXpress Line D (GTX-D), with a combined cost of 1.3027 trillion won.
Under the Sixth National Road and Local Road Construction Plan, Gangwon State requested the inclusion of five non-feasibility-study projects totaling 19.2 kilometers and worth 184.6 billion won, including the expansion of the Geumsan–Sinmae section in Seomyeon, Chuncheon, and the Taebaek-si Dongjeom–Tongdong Section bypass road. It also conveyed its intention to carry projects that failed the comprehensive preliminary feasibility study forward through the Seventh Plan or through projects to improve hazardous roads and bottleneck areas.
Shin Won-cheol, deputy governor for economic affairs of Gangwon State, said, "Changing the reality that we rank last nationwide in expressway accessibility and that it takes an average of 81 minutes to reach a railway station is the starting point for securing new growth engines. Based on demand confirmed on the ground, we will continue persuading central government ministries to include major projects in national plans."

[email protected] Kim Ki-seop Reporter