A 314-meter stretch of overhead lines along the school commute route will be buried underground, with nine utility poles removed; Korea Electric Power Corp. and five telecom carriers will jointly carry out the undergrounding project through 2029 to create a safer, more pleasant walking environment.
Seoul's Seongdong-gu district is moving forward with a project to underground overhead power and telecommunications lines near Okjeong Elementary School, aiming to improve pedestrian safety along the school commute route and enhance the area's urban landscape.
The undergrounding project involves burying electric and telecom lines that currently run above ground along the roadside and removing utility poles from the sidewalk.
The project covers a 314-meter section of the school commute route running from 367-4 Oksu-dong to 233-16 Oksu-dong, with work scheduled from April 2026 through December 2029. Once complete, the tangled overhead lines cluttering the corridor will be buried underground, and eight Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) poles and one telecommunications pole will be removed.
KEPCO and five telecom carriers — LG Uplus, KT Corp, SK Telecom, SKB and Dlive — are participating in the project, jointly undergrounding both power and communications lines. KEPCO and the telecom companies will each carry out their respective undergrounding work, while Seongdong-gu will handle road surface restoration.
The district plans to sign an implementation agreement with KEPCO this month. After KEPCO completes the detailed engineering design, the project will go through the necessary administrative procedures in February 2027, with full-scale undergrounding construction set to run from April 2027 through March 2029.
Because the corridor runs along a school commute route heavily used by students and residents, the district expects the work to eliminate the hazards that utility poles and overhead wires pose to pedestrians, creating a safer and more comfortable environment for children walking to and from school.
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