South Gyeongsang, Ulsan push ahead with key road projects after clearing feasibility reviews

Nine road projects critical to South Gyeongsang Province's future strategic industries and southern coastal tourism belt, along with a new national highway linking Ulsan's southern and northern districts, have cleared the government's batch preliminary feasibility review, paving the way for accelerated development of key transport infrastructure. A separate bypass project to relieve chronic congestion on Munsu-ro, one of Ulsan's most congested urban arteries, has also been selected for a preliminary feasibility assessment.

The nine South Gyeongsang projects cleared the government's batch preliminary feasibility review, opening the way for a road network expansion program worth a combined 1.5 trillion won ($1.08 billion).

Provincial Deputy Governor Park Il-ung held a briefing at the provincial government press center on Thursday, saying the nine projects had been recognized as viable under the government's batch review conducted to establish the Sixth National and Local Road Construction Plan covering 2026 to 2030.

The approved projects span a total of 50.5 kilometers across seven national highways and two nationally supported local roads, with a combined cost of 1.5036 trillion won. Most had been strategically identified and repeatedly proposed to the central government since the start of the province's eighth elected administration.

The projects fall into three categories: supporting future strategic industries (two projects), linking tourism hubs (two projects), and improving regional balanced development and road safety (five projects).

In the future-industry category, the approved projects include a new four-lane, 6.1-kilometer stretch of National Highway 33 connecting Sacheon's aerospace national industrial complex directly to the Namhae Expressway via Jinju Jeongchon, at a cost of 271.8 billion won, and a new two-lane, 6.4-kilometer section of National Highway 79 linking Changwon Bungmyeon to Changnyeong Bugok to close a missing link, at 170.5 billion won. The projects are expected to significantly improve industrial logistics flows between Changwon's defense and nuclear industrial complexes and the western South Gyeongsang aerospace cluster.

Construction of a maritime bridge — a centerpiece of the southern coastal tourism belt — is also moving forward. The Hansandaecheop Bridge on National Highway 5, a new two-lane, 2.7-kilometer crossing connecting Tongyeong's Donam-dong to Hansan Island, cleared the review at a cost of 339.6 billion won. The bridge is expected to guarantee mobility for island residents while serving as the starting point of a southern coastal island tourism road network. A new two-lane, 3.8-kilometer section of National Highway 77 linking Tongyeong Dosan to Goseong Samsan, at 136.5 billion won, was also confirmed.

Five projects to improve transport links in western South Gyeongsang Province and rural farming and fishing communities were also approved: an expansion of National Highway 19 between Hadong Gojeon and Hadong (8.8 km, 153 billion won); an expansion of National Highway 20 between Sancheong Sicheon and Danseong (7.1 km, 142.8 billion won); an improvement of National Highway 59 between Sancheong and Chahwang (6.7 km, 83.8 billion won); a new section of Local Road 60 between Haman Daesan and Uiryeong Burim (7.2 km, 145.7 billion won); and an improvement of Local Road 37 between Hamyang Baekjeon and Seoha (1.7 km, 59.9 billion won). The works will address steep gradients and bottlenecks to substantially improve traffic safety and accessibility.

The province plans to secure national funding for basic and detailed design costs to enable early groundbreaking, in line with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's schedule for finalizing and announcing the Sixth National and Local Road Construction Plan. Routes that did not make the cut this round will be reviewed and resubmitted for inclusion in future national plans.

"The passage of these nine projects marks the starting point for building a new road network connecting South Gyeongsang's industries, tourism and residents' daily lives," Park said. "We will do everything in our power to secure national funding and complete administrative procedures so that design work and groundbreaking can begin as soon as possible."

A new section of National Highway 14 in Ulju-gun — running 7.7 kilometers with four lanes in both directions from Yul-ri in Cheongnyangup to the Daun 2 public housing district in Beomseoup — has cleared the government's preliminary feasibility review. The project carries a total cost of 391.4 billion won.

Once built, the new road is expected to significantly ease chronic congestion on National Highway 14, whose function as an arterial route has been undermined by heavy traffic through urban sections including Daehak-ro and the Daungyo intersection. The highway currently handles an average of 65,897 vehicles per day. The corridor is particularly in need of relief given large-scale development projects underway in the area, including the Daun 2 public housing district, the Yulhyeon district and the Taehwagang riverside district.

The new road will cut the travel distance from the Daun 2 district to Ulju-gun Office from 14 kilometers to 9.8 kilometers, and from the Daun 2 district to Munsu Sports Park from 12 kilometers to 10 kilometers, substantially improving living conditions for residents in both Ulsan's southern and northern areas.

The Munsu-ro bypass selected for a preliminary feasibility assessment would add four lanes in both directions over 2.61 kilometers from the Mugeo Okdong district in Nam-gu to Namsan Leisure Sports Park, at an estimated cost of 137.7 billion won. Munsu-ro has effectively lost its function as an arterial road under the weight of traffic generated by 5,804 apartment units in the area, 1,383 units in the Mugeo Samho district and 2,497 units in the Mugeo Okdong district. More than 10,000 additional households are set to move in through ongoing redevelopment projects.

Ulsan plans to conduct a feasibility study over approximately 10 months before launching detailed design work in the first half of 2028, with completion targeted for 2033.