Current Issues and Prospects of Toll Expressway in KOREA

Han-sun Cho JUN LEE Reaearcher Research Assistant Korea Transport Institute Korea Transport Institute Department of Highway Research Center for Northeast Asia and North Korea 1160, Simindaero, Ilsanseo-gu, -si, Transport Studies Gyeonggi-do, 411-701, Korea 1160, Simindaero, Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang-si, Fax: +82-31-910-3235 Gyeonggi-do, 411-701, Korea E-mail: [email protected] Fax: +82-31-910-3241 E-mail: [email protected]

Young-in KWON Head of Center, Research Fellow Korea Transport Institute Center for Northeast Asia and North Korea Transport Studies 1160, Simindaero, Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 411-701, Korea Fax: +82-31-910-3241 E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract: This paper deal with current issues and future prospects of toll expressway in Korea. To expand and improve current expressway, Korean government introduced many kinds of development techniques and policies. For example, the BTL (Build Transfer Lease) expressway to make up under supplied government road, Hi-pass and the bus exclusive lane have been applied at the some expressway. Another hot issue for managing and constructing express way is Smart Highway project which develops a new concept of expressway where road, IT and automobile technologies are integrated.

Key Words: BTL expressway, toll expressway, Hi-pass, Bus Exclusive Lane, Smart Highway

1. INTRODUCTION There exist 24 expressway routes which are the totally 3,367km in Korea. Currently about 600km of expressways are under construction. The master plan of expressways in Korea is to construct 9 axis of west-east and 7 axes of south-north expressways which create a lattice expressway network with a total length of 6,160km by 2020. These will enable to access an expressway within 30 minutes from anywhere in the country and the plan is to integrate the country fully, making any region accessible within a half day. Asian highway network and the reunification of South-north Korea will mark a new logistics network for international societies. The population of Korea is more than forty eight million and total area is ninety nine thousand square kilometer. The general road statistics are depicted in table 1. To operate and manage the highways more safely and efficiently, Korean government has applied many kinds of development techniques and policies. For example, the BTL (Build Transfer Lease) expressway was introduced to expand insufficient expressway. Hi-pass which is a kind of ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) and the bus exclusive lane are applied in the expressways in special sections. Another hot issue for managing expressway is Smart Highway project which develops a new concept of highway where road, IT and automobile technologies are integrated.

Table 1 General statistics in KOREA Total Kyeonggi-do Population(1000person) 48,607 10,421 3,615 2,710 11,106 Area(㎢) 99,827 605 765 964 10,183 Vehicles(1,000) 16,917 2,961 1,043 874 3,911 Length of Road (km) 104,236 8,078 2,767 2,969 12,877 Express Way(km) 3,447 26 26 78 485 National Way(km) 13,905 168 124 76 1,508 Local Way(km) 86,884 7,882 2,515 2,814 10,884 GR(km) 3,211 26 26 38 449 BTL ROAD(km) 236 - 129 40 36

2. OUTLINES OF BTL (BUILD TRANSFER LEASE) EXPRESSWAY IN KOREA

BTL a toll expressway which is built, managed, and maintained by private finance. This method of development combines the goal of government which is to supply public expressway services to people with the participation of private corporations with their sufficient capital. While government needs a lot of financial affairs for constructing the infrastructures, like an expressway, private corporations want to take part in a large scale stabilization business for investing their funds. Private corporations participate in business of BTL expressway, if they return their capitals and profits are generated.

In Korea, 25 BTL expressway are in operation or planning. Among them, 5 lines (Incheon Airport, ~, ~Busan, Ilsan~Toegyewon) are already in operation, and 20 lines are planned to be completed in 2015. - is the longest line and planned with total length of 89.9km and four lanes. Table 2 is a list of supplied BTL expressway and table 3 shows planned routes of BTL. There are the lengths of expressway, construction period, magnitude of investment which is divided by private and government sectors, proposition year and project operators.

Table 2 List of supplied BTL expressway Overall Private Government Land cost Construction investment investment subsidy (hundred Proposition Project operator Classfication Extension period (hundred (hundred (hundred million year (proponent) (Planned) million won) million won) million won) won) 40.2km 1995 NEW AIRPORT Incheon Airport 17,440 14,602 1,232 1,606 1995 HIGHWAY (6~8 lanes) ~ 2000 CO.,LTD. Cheonan 81km 1997 Cheonan Nonsan 17,297 11,589 4,365 1,344 1995 Expressway ~Nonsan (4 lanes) ~ 2002 CO.,LTD. NEW DAEGU 82km 2001 BUSAN Daegu~Busan 27,476 17,960 6,812 2,704 1995 (4 lanes) ~ 2006 EXPRESSWAY CO.,LTD. Ilsan 36.3km 2001 22,792 14,848 5,003 2,941 1998 Seoul beltway ~Toegyewon (8 lanes) ~ 2008 CO.,LTD.

12.34km 2005 INCHEON BRIDGE Incheon Bridge 15,914 8,231 7,683 - 2000 (6 lanes) ~ 2009 CO.,LTD.

Table 3 List of planned BTL Overall Private Government Land cost Construction investment investment subsidy (hundred Proposition Project operator Classfication Extension period (hundred (hundred (hundred million year (proponent) (Planned) million won) million won) million won) won) 42.6km 2008 Pyoungtae k 12,110 8,611 - 3,499 2003 SECOND SEOHAEAN ~ (4~6 lanes) ~ 2013 EXPRESS CO.,LTD.

28.5km INCHEON HIGHWAY Incheon~Kimpo 60 Months 13,328 10,498 - 2,830 2002 (4~6 lanes) CO.,LTD. SECOND GYEONGIN Anyang 21.86km JOINT EXPRESS ~ 60 Months 7,967 6,536 - 1,431 2002 (4~6 lanes) CO.,LTD. SECOND 56.95km YEONGDONG ~ 60 Months 13,391 11,243 - 2,148 2003 (4 lanes) EXPRESS CO.,LTD. YEONGCHEON Yeongcheon 89.9km SANGJU EXPRESS ~Sangju 60 Months 21,022 16,353 2,821 1,848 2003 (4 lanes) CO.,LTD.

Suwon 26.4km Sudogwon seobu 60 Months 14,743 9,239 958 4,546 2002 ~ (4~6 lanes) express CO.,LTD. 34.7km SEOUL MUNSAN Seoul~Munsan 60 Months 21,021 10,592 - 10,429 2003 EXPRESSWAY (4~6 lanes) CO.,LTD.

Seoul 61.4km 2004 SEOUL- 22,725 12,952 5,023 4,750 2001 ~Chuncheon (4~6 lanes) ~ 2009 HIGHWAY CO.,LTD. WestSuwon 38.50km 2005 KYUNGGI HIGHWAY ~ 16,869 8,055 3,099 5,715 2000 CO.,LTD. ~ (4~6 lanes) ~ 2009 47.2km 2001 BUSAN Busan~Ulsan 15,489 9,798 3,605 2,086 2004 EXPRESSWAY (4~6 lanes) ~ 2008 CO.,LTD.

22.9km 2005 GYEONGSU ~Seoul 14,932 5,732 3,673 5,527 2003 (4~6 lanes) ~ 2009 HIGHWAY CO.LTD

53.0km SEOUL BUKBU Seoul~ 60 Months 24,525 15,720 - 8,805 2002 (4~6 lanes) HIGHWAY CO.,LTD.

Hwado 18.6km HY CONSTRUCTION 54 Months 5,366 4,282 596 488 2002 ~Yangpyeong (4 lanes) CO.,LTD. WEST SEOUL Gwangmyeong 19.8km EXPRESSWAY ~Seoul 60 Months 16,227 11,692 - 4,535 2003 (4~6 lanes) CO.,LTD. BUSAN NEWPORT Busan Newport 15.26km SECOND ROAD 2nd road 54 Months 5,315 3,632 1,416 267 2004 (4 lanes) CO.,LTD. OKSAN OCHANG Oksan 13.5km EXPRESSWAY ~Ochang 48 Months 2,622 1,735 687 240 2004 (4 lanes) CO.,LTD. GYEONGGI Songsan 18.46km DONGSEO BELT ~Bongdam 48 Months 6,954 3,737 617 2,600 2007 (4 lanes) HIGHWAY CO.,LTD. OSAN GWANGJU Osan 29.7km EXPRESSWAY ~Gwangju 60 Months 7,507 5,266 528 1,713 2007 (4 lanes) CO.,LTD.

Pocheon 31.6km SEOUL BELTWAY 60 Months 9,642 6,815 679 2,148 2007 ~Hwado (4 lanes) CO.,LTD. - Gongju 20.1km 60 Months 7,503 5,071 488 1,944 2007 CHEONGWON ~Cheongwon (4 lanes) EXPRESSWAY CO.,LTD.

3. THE DEVELOPEMENT ISSUES OF BTL ROAD

3.1 The Forecasting Problems and Financial Loss

To make a plan for the BTL expressway, the private corporation forecasts a long term travel demand of a prospected expressway and the construction cost. However some forecasts of them were greater than real demand, the private corporations could not help getting into the red. So, the government had to do the financial support for the private corporations’ insolvent operations and performance of a contract duty. For example, NEW AIRPORT HIGHWAY Corporation which is a private corporation for developing Incheon Airport line had got the financial aid from government more than 2,700 hundred million won during two years as shown in Table 4. Government and Corporation had made a contract about the supporting of big loss.

Table 4 Demand forecasts and real demand for travel Year 2007 2008 Travel Demand Forecast (ten thousand trip) 21.1 23.2 Real Travel Demand (ten thousand trip) 1.3 1.7 Ratio 6.3% 6.3% Receives Financial Aid from Government (hundred million won) 1,040 1,666

3.2 Balance for Local Society

BTL expressway needs higher amount of tolls for using than government road and it is because the private corporations have to make a profit margin for repairing and managing them. However, if new BTL expressway is built in a region without enough alternative lines, it can be an important issue in a planning because it has a problem of balance in supplying the road. In Korea, most of new major highways are built as BTL expressway in the northern Gyunggi-do area so it has become an issue in a balance of local society. People usually do not want to pay the cost and they are dissatisfied when they use the road or some places where inhabitants live near BTL expressway.

3.3 Collecting Fares

Now collection systems are fully controlled by the government and Private Corporation. However, as time passes, more new routes will be constructed than before, and complexly connected networks will cause a problem for a control of collection. That is, when BTL expressway is crossed with government road, the problem of a fare collection system is occurred. In the case of expressway, when a car travels through BTL expressway and government road continuously, it can be occurred where is the best place for collection and how accurate costs for a user’s individual origin and destination account. If we make more toll gates, traffic flows frequently have to decrease their speed for stopping and approach the gate. Therefore, it becomes an important task to establish tollgates and collection systems appropriately. The researches on the best place of tollgate are proposed and ongoing in Korea and toll collection systems which are introduced below are already applied in express way.

4. RECENT ISSUES ABOUT THE EXPRESS WAY

4.1 Hi-Pass

In Korean expressway, three kinds of toll collection systems are applied. One is TCS (automated Toll Collection System) which is computer processing of vehicle numbers, types, distance travel, and times of vehicles passing through tollgates using tickets. The other is ETCS (Electronic Toll Collection System) so called ‘Hi-pass’ which enables payment of toll without having to stop at tollgates. Last is Pre-paid Card System of Hi-pass that contributes to easing the tollgate congestion with a current usage rate of 35%. Hi-pass is one of ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) and introduced in June 2000. Now, this system is established and operated in total 268 tollgates in Korea, and the use is being increased continuously. In order to operate Hi-pass, an on board unit (OBU) and a card for electronic pay are have to be set up in a car, and tollgates have to prepare detecting devices which are depicted in Figure 1. During the past three years, OBU are sold more than five million; 220 thousand in 2006, 750 thousand in 2007, 1.8 million in 2008, and 2.4 million in May 2009. Twelve hundred million people used in 2008, and from January to May in 2009, sixteen hundred million people used.

OBU : On Board Unit Hi-pass CARD

Figure 1 Structure of Hi-pass tollgate

4.2 Smart Highway

In Korea, a large-scale research project, so called SMART HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROJECT, is underway. Launched in September 2008, this US $100millions plus cost of test bed construction project, financed by public-private partnership, is expected to be completed by 2017. The research results produced by the consortium is managed and evaluated by Korea Institute of Construction & Transportation Technology Evaluation and Planning(KICTTEP) and shall be approved by the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs(MLTM). Figure 2 show shows the structure of research management.

Figure 2 Structure of research management

Korea has a relatively high-quality roadway network. However, neither the expert in road engineering nor the road user is satisfied with the current service level of road, because automobile and IT technologies of the country are far ahead road technologies. Upgrading the road construction and operation technologies has been a hot issue in Korea for a few years and finally motivated the creation of SMART HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROJECT. Thus, the general goal of this project is to develop a new concept highway where road, IT and automobile technologies are integrated. The core values of SMART HIGHWAY, as depicted in Figure 3, include Safety, Sustainability, Mobility, Advanced, Reliability and Tomorrow.

Figure 3 Core values of SMART HIGHWAY

4.3 The Bus Exclusive Lane

The bus exclusive lane using middle lane, which gives a priority of travel to a bus, is operated in some lines of highways in Korea. This policy was introduced in 1995 in order to make traffic flow on the highway smoothly. This is operated for the toll expressway from Sintangin IC to Seocho IC (137km) during the weekend period. Especially, since October 1, 2008, a median bus exclusive lane from Osan IC to Hannam Bridge (51km) has been operated between 07:00 and 21:00 for the weekday, and the one from Sintanjin IC to Hannam Bridge has been operated between 09:00 and 21:00 in holidays. Car vehicles and SUV (sport utility vehicle) which can pick more than 9 passengers up can use this lane. Kim (2008) analyzed the effects derived from introducing the median bus exclusive lane and evaluated that the lane made an effect of reducing travel time by about 12%. KEC (Korea Expressway Corporation) briefs that the average speeds of these sections are changed about 10%; bound to Seoul 85km/h → 98km/h, bound to Busan 89km/h → 100km/h.

Figure 4 The bus exclusive lane

REFERENCES

Gyeonggi Province: www.gg.go.kr Information System for Travel Demand in Korea: www.road.re.kr Korea Expressway Corporation: www.ex.co.kr Korea Expressway Corporation: www.hipassplus.co.kr Korea Institute of Construction Technology: www.kict.re.kr Korea Institute of Construction & Transportation Technology Evaluation and Planning: www.kicttep.re.kr Korea National Statistical Office: www.nso.go.kr K. Y. Whang, J. Y. Cho (2003) Impact Analysis for Transit Oriented Street Design (A Case Study for Kangnam Street in Seoul, The Society of Korea Transport Institute, Vol. 21, No. 3. 47-56. Ministry of Public Administration And Security: www.mopas.go.kr Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime affairs: www.mltm.go.kr Seoul Metropolitan Government: www.seoul.go.kr S. G. Kim. (2008) Transportation tectonics and polices, The Society of Korea Transport Institute, Vol. 5, No. 2, 70-92 S. J. Lee, S. K. Ryu (2005) Median Arterial Bus Lane Operation Analysis Using the Downs- Thomson Paradox Theory, The Society of Korea Transport Institute, Vol. 23, No. 5. 83- 92. Smart Highway Center: www.smarthighway.or.kr Yearbook of road statistics (2008) Ministry of land, transport and maritime affairs Y. T. Lee, S.B. Kim, J. M. Won (1999), Risk Analysis of Highway Investment by Private Sectors, The Society of Korea Transport Institute, Vol.17, No.5, 33-42.