A World Cup Bridge for 2015

Just kicked off : the construction of the World Cup Bridge (월드컵대교) on the Hangang, between Mapo-gu (North) and Yeongdeungpo-gu (South), and between Seongsan Bridge (East) and Gayang Bridge (West).

This 30.7 x 1,980 m shoot will prolong Jeungsanno, a road that cut between World Cup Stadium and World Cup Park, so now you get an idea where the name of the bridge comes from.

The name of Jeungsanno comes from its mountain of origin : Jeungsan, in Jeungsan-dong, Eunpyeong-gu (it continues even further Northwards as Yeonseono). The road follows a stream, Bulgwancheon, and Subway Line 6 until Susaek Station, now the new Digital Media City. A few hectometers were added when the stadium and parc were built, but Jeungsanno stopped right in front of the Han river, waiting for a bridge to come : a big diving board hovering over the main entrance to Seoul from Incheon Airport (Gangbyeonbukno highway), and Nanji-Jigu riverside park.

On the other side, World Cup Bridge will land in Yeongdeungpo-gu in Yanghwa-dong, with a branch stretching Eastwards to Yangpyeong-dong, where traffic will merge with that from Seongsan Bridge on the way to the Seobu / Western Expressway (서부간선도로). Another branch will go Eastwards, cross Anyangcheon, and reach Gangseo-gu at Yeomchang-dong, where it will join another major axis : the road to Gimpo Airport, Gonghangno ("airport road").

If you're lost with all those gus, dongs, and cheons, the big picture :
- the World Cup Bridge will be delivered in 2015, and cost KRW 334.5 bn
- a lot of traffic will be diverted from Seongsan Bridge, easing the way from Gimpo and Incheon to the World Cup Stadium, DMC, and Eunpyeong.
- more asphalt loops and noodles ? you betcha. Cars still rule, but this new bridge does include bike lanes.


Seoul Village 2010

De Vermis Ttukseomis

Last time I crossed the Han river by the Yeongdong Bridge, checking how the Ttukseom Resort renovation went, I had a strange feeling but couldn't quite nail it.

The answer came this morning as I opened the JoongAng Ilbo : the journalist started his article on Hangang Renaissance* by a description of the new observation deck as a "giant inchworm".

That was it. When I saw the long tube circling around bridge piles, I had in mind a huge concrete tube slide, but deep in its own rotten jelly, my brain clearly saw a giant warm, which struck it as both monstruous and totally normal. The monstruosity didn't come from the worm itself but by the fact that fiction had somehow snaked out into reality : I happen to have written a short story on Seoul giant worms a few years ago ("de Vermis Seoulis", recently republished along with other "dragedies"). My worms love concrete dust, and the biggest ones use to go down to the riversides to die, like old elephants, but this 240 m fella is made of concrete, and yet to be born...

Anyway, the article delivered other insights about Hangang Renaissance in Ttukseom, Yeouido, and Nanji (near Seoul's main camping site), and many other sites are still under renovation or construction. and I recently noticed the ballet of trucks on Hangang Bridge, where a Sydney style opera will be erected on the small island of Nodeul-do.

More food for my beloved worms.

Seoul Village 2009


* "Renaissance by the riverside" (Limb Jae-un - JoongAng Daily 20091030)