Key infrastructure for growing Yeongdong region development strategy
Gov. Woo Sang-ho vows road network to lift entire East Coast together
Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province announced Monday that it will address major bottlenecks along National Route 7, which runs parallel to the East Coast, by building bypass roads between Daegu-dong in Donghae and Obun in Samcheok and between Daepohang and Jangsa in Sokcho, and by widening the road between Okgye and Gangneung.
The province shared these road expansion and regional development plans at the East Coast Road Vision Forum, held in Gangneung that day with about 200 participants, including mayors and county chiefs from the Yeongdong region, provincial and municipal civil servants, transportation and road experts, and local residents.
The province said it would upgrade National Route 7 — now more than 40 years old — to meet current traffic demands.
National Route 7 is the East Coast's main arterial road, spanning 210 kilometers from Samcheok to Goseong. It opened as a two-lane road in 1979 and was widened to four lanes by 2010, but more than four decades on, urban expansion and a surge in tourism have caused recurring congestion along key stretches.
Visitor numbers to the East Coast region grew sharply in practice, from about 8 million in 1990 to about 105 million in 2025, while the existing road network has been unable to keep pace with that demand.
Alongside the National Route 7 improvements, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province said it would also concentrate efforts on the early construction of the Sokcho–Goseong expressway.
The Sokcho–Goseong expressway is a key infrastructure project stretching 44.6 kilometers that would link the north-south Axis 10 corridor. With a total project cost of 2.54 trillion won ($1.89 billion), it is designed to close a gap in the expressway network and drive economic revitalization and balanced regional development in the northern East Coast area.
The province plans to strengthen coordination with the National Assembly and relevant central government ministries to have the project included in the Third Expressway Construction Plan (2026–2030), with the 21.8-kilometer section between Sokcho IC and Ganseong IC prioritized for early implementation.
Building on the forum, Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province said it would move beyond advancing individual road projects and instead develop a comprehensive strategy to connect the entire East Coast as a single lifestyle, tourism and economic zone.
Earlier, Gangwon Province secured the basis for pursuing 989.5 billion won in road projects after nine of its proposals — out of 54 nationwide — passed the batch preliminary feasibility review under the Sixth National and Local Road Construction Plan (2026–2030). However, projects related to National Route 7 were rejected on economic viability grounds.
The province said it would not abandon the National Route 7 projects left out of the current plan, and would instead pursue phased improvements through various approaches, including hazardous road and bottleneck improvement projects.
"Roads are more than facilities that move people and goods — they are the core infrastructure that connects a region's tourism and industry and shapes its future," Governor Woo Sang-ho said. "We will improve the bottlenecks on National Route 7 and swiftly complete the Sokcho–Goseong expressway to build a new road network that allows the entire East Coast to grow together."
abc@heraldcorp.com
