Gyeongbu Expressway - History

History

• February 1968 - Construction begins.
• 21 December 1968 - Seoul-Suwon segment opens to traffic.
• 30 December 1968 - Suwon-Osan segment opens to traffic.
• 29 September 1969 - Osan-Cheonan segment opens to traffic.
• 10 December 1969 - Cheonan-Daejeon segment opens to traffic.
• 19 December 1969 - Busan-Daegu (via Gyeongju) segment opens to traffic.
• 7 July 1970 - The last segment, the mountainous Daejeon-Daegu segment, opens to traffic, completing South Korea's first long-distance limited access expressway.
• December 1987 - Work begins to widen to six lanes in selected areas. Some areas are widened to 8 or 10 lanes by 1996.
• February 1995 - Bus-only lane (essentially an HOV-9) established between the northern terminus and Sintanjin for important holidays.
• 14 July 2000 - Eight vehicles, including three buses and a five-ton truck, collide near Gimcheon, killing 18 and injuring over 100.
• 25 August 2001 - All expressways in South Korea reorganize under a pattern modeled after the United States' Interstate Highway System. The Gyeongbu Expressway's route number of 1 is the only one not to change; however, its kilometer markers change from a north-south progression to south-north.
• December 2002 - Korea National Expressway Corporation passes control of the northernmost 9 km stretch of expressway (between Yangjae and Hannam Bridge) to the City of Seoul.
• 1 July 2008 - Bus lane enforcement between Seoul and Osan (Sintanjin on weekends) becomes daily between 6 AM and 10 PM. On 1 October this is adjusted to 7 AM to 9 PM weekdays, 9 AM to 9 PM weekends.