“World Cup Bridge” (월드컵대교) is the name of the 22nd bridge which is being constructed across the Han River between Mapo-gu and Yeongdeungpo-gu in order to relieve traffic congestion. This is not recent news by any means, construction on the bridge having started back in February 2010.
Nevertheless, many citizens of Seoul still seem unaware of this new road and pedestrian link which was originally planned to be completed in the latter half of 2015. According to Financial News, that date has now been changed to 2017 due to reasons including difficulty procuring capital.
The exact location of the bridge runs from Yangpyeong-dong in Yeongdeungpo-gu to Sangam-dong, right next to the World Cup Stadium in Mapo-gu. It’s located between the Gayang and Seongsan Bridges, approximately only 650 metres west of the latter. Accordingly, the bridge’s other name used during planning has been the “2nd Seongsan Bridge”.
The 1.98km bridge which is cable stayed and six lanes wide will be built by Samsung C&T at a cost of 334.5 billion won. The southern part of the bridge will link up with Gonghang-ro and the Seobu Expressway, with the northern end meeting Jeungsan-ro and the Naebu Expressway. One good thing about the bridge is that it features dual bicycle lanes which link up to other cycle lanes along the Han River parks. The bridge will be built so that up to 5000 ton cruise ships can pass below it after coming through the Gyeongin Waterway which officially started operations in May last year.
Read more about the bridge in Korean here or English here (old article).
