South Korea’s US$1.4 billion Incheon bridge officially opened on Friday 16 October - four years and four months after construction began. To celebrate the opening, Incheon city and local businesses held a walking tour on Saturday 17 October.
The bridge connects the Songdo International business district in the Incheon free economic zone and Yeongjongdo, where Incheon International airport is located.
The 12km crossing, which includes a 800m main span cable-stayed bridge, is the country's longest and forms part of one of the world's longest sea crossings. It is the world's fifth longest cable-stayed bridge. The approach bridges are constructed from 50m spans, each erected as full span precast units weighing 1,300 tonnes.
The project was procured by the Korea Highway Corporation on a build, operate, transfer basis. Incheon Bridge Co (formerly KODA Development Ltd), the AMEC-led concessionaire, in joint venture with the City of Incheon, will finance and manage the toll-bridge for 30 years before returning the project to the Korean government.
A Halcrow-Arup-Dasan joint venture team was appointed by design-and-construct contractor Samsung Construction joint venture as contractor's checking engineer in March 2005.