Editor’s Note
This article outlines a key infrastructure pledge from a mayoral candidate in Jinju, South Korea, focusing on a proposed road network designed to connect all city areas within a 30-minute travel time.
Park Myung-kyun, a former Gyeongsangnam-do Vice Governor for Administration and prospective candidate for Mayor of Jinju, held a press conference at the Jinju City Hall briefing room on the 13th, presenting the construction of a ’30-minute living zone road network’ connecting all areas of Jinju within 30 minutes as a core campaign pledge.
Park unveiled a large-scale road infrastructure strategy that simultaneously reorganizes the aerospace, defense, and industrial logistics axis along with the living zone transportation network, outlining a vision to elevate Jinju into a transportation and industrial hub city for western Gyeongsangnam-do.
The core is to link Jinju’s city center, industrial complexes, the Sacheon Aerospace Agency, the innovation city, and the eastern industrial belt into a single 30-minute living and logistics zone. To achieve this, he announced a package of seven major road projects: expansion of the Jinju-Sacheon section of National Route 33, construction of a new Jiphyeon-Munsan connecting road, construction of the 2nd Namgang Bridge, installation of an underpass at the 10-ho Plaza intersection, expansion of the Sabong-Jisu road to four lanes, and the promotion and expansion of the Jiphyeon-Uiryeong road to national route status.
National Route 33 is a key axis directly connecting the Sacheon Aerospace Agency and Jinju’s national/general industrial complexes. Its expansion is expected to significantly improve the aviation, defense, and logistics movement systems. The Jiphyeon-Munsan road is designed to complete an outer bypass axis, functioning as a logistics corridor that connects industrial complexes and the city center via a detour.
The 2nd Namgang Bridge is a new bridge directly connecting the Chochon district, the innovation city, and the Geumsan area, serving to alleviate bottlenecks at the existing Namgang Bridge and Geumsan Bridge. For the chronically congested 10-ho Plaza intersection, the plan is to install an underpass to create a multi-level interchange, structurally reducing commute time through the city center during peak hours.
The plan also includes strengthening accessibility to the eastern industrial belt. The Sabong-Jisu road (Local Route 1037), connecting the Sabong general industrial complex and the agro-industrial complex, will be expanded from two to four lanes to simultaneously improve industrial logistics and traffic safety. Furthermore, there is a plan to extend National Route 79, starting from Uiryeong, to Jiphyeon-myeon in Jinju, promote Local Route 1013 to national route status, and widen it to four lanes.
Funding will be pursued by separating sources—national, provincial, and city budgets—according to the nature of each project. The National Route 33 expansion, Jiphyeon-Munsan road, and Jiphyeon-Uiryeong national route promotion projects will use national funds. The Sabong-Jisu section will use provincial funds. The 2nd Namgang Bridge and 10-ho Plaza underpass will be pursued by linking city and provincial funds.