At 2 p.m. on the 14th, the first vehicles crossed a 3.26-kilometer sea bridge connecting Yeongjong Island in Incheon with Sindo Island in Ongjin County. It marked the moment the isolation ended for residents of Sindo, Sido and Modo, who had been left helpless during medical emergencies whenever ferry service was suspended.
An opening ceremony was held at 10 a.m. that day at the Rest Park at the Sindo connection point. Incheon Mayor Park Chan-dae attended, along with local National Assembly members, city, county and district council members, and residents of Ongjin County and Yeongjong Island.
With the opening, residents of Sindo, Sido and Modo, who had relied solely on ferries, can now travel to and from the mainland at any time, 24 hours a day. The restrictions on the mobility of island residents that lasted more than 50 years have been lifted, and living conditions are expected to improve significantly. Since Sindo is already linked to Sido and Modo by existing inter-island bridges, the three islands are now bound together into a single land-based living zone.
The Peace Road connecting Yeongjong and Sindo spans a total length of 3.26 kilometers with a road width of 13.5 meters, comprising two lanes in both directions. Built as an ordinary road with a combined pedestrian and bicycle path, it can be crossed by passenger cars as well as motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians. There is no toll.
Considering safety on the bridge and road conditions within Sindo, the maximum speed on the bridge section is limited to 50 kilometers per hour.
This road is the first-stage section of the West Sea North-South Peace Road, which will extend through Ganghwa Island to Kaesong and Haeju in North Korea. The Incheon city government plans to extend it to Ganghwa in the future.
Kim Hong-eun, head of the city's Comprehensive Construction Headquarters, said, "By realizing the constant mobility that has long been the wish of residents of Sindo, Sido and Modo, this will improve transportation welfare in transportation-underserved areas such as islands and border regions, and serve as an opportunity to inject new vitality into the local economy."
◇Started as a Bridgehead for Inter-Korean Exchange, Adrift on the Wall of Economic Feasibility
This opening is not simply the construction of a new road. It is the fruit of a 14-year project achieved by overcoming the government's logic that it "lacked economic feasibility," along with prolonged ups and downs.
The idea of connecting Yeongjong and Sindo emerged together with the West Sea peace initiative. To revitalize its free economic zone, the Incheon city government even proposed to the government the construction of a 58.2-kilometer road running from Yeongjong through Ganghwa to Kaesong.
Since 2009, the Incheon city government had pushed for a 14.8-kilometer land bridge running from Yeongjong Island through Sindo to Ganghwa Island, at a cost of about 800 billion won. In April 2010, it established a special purpose company (SPC) with POSCO E&C and the Incheon Urban Development Corporation, pushing forward with a private investment approach. The judgment was that this land bridge was necessary to export North Korean products such as those from the Kaesong Industrial Complex to Incheon International Airport via Gyodong Island in Ganghwa, in preparation for expanded inter-Korean exchange and an era of unification.
However, the real estate downturn made it difficult to attract private investors. As the central government also balked at the cost burden, the project drifted.
The decisive blow was economic feasibility. According to the results of a feasibility study announced by the Incheon city government in 2013, the benefit-cost ratio (B/C) was 0.52 to 0.74, far short of the benchmark of 1.0. Even the four-lane plan connecting to the Kaesong Industrial Complex yielded a B/C of only 0.59, even after reducing the road width to 20 meters. Securing feasibility required traffic of 150,000 vehicles per day, but the projected traffic in 2031 was only 38,000 vehicles per day, even with the Kaesong Industrial Complex connection. The Incheon city government requested that the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport designate it a national road and fully fund it with state money, but the ministry said this was difficult due to feasibility issues.
A breakthrough came in January 2019. Recognizing the special nature of balanced development in border regions, the government included the project in its national balanced development project and exempted it from a preliminary feasibility study. By reducing the four-lane plan to two lanes and switching from private investment to a state-funded project, the project broke free from the economic feasibility logic that had held it back for more than 10 years.
Construction began in January 2021. The work proceeded amid the strong currents and harsh marine conditions of the West Sea, and was completed on the 30th of last month.
