Two major cable-stayed bridges opened to traffic this week to link the Korean mainland and the island of Geoje. The 8.2km Geoga Bridge is a four-lane highway connecting Gadeokdo Island in Busan with Jangmok-myeon in Geoje. It is made up of the two bridges and a 3.7km immersed tunnel.
One of the bridges is 1.65km long and has three 102-m high towers and span lengths of 230m. The other is 1.87km long and has two 156m-high towers and a main span of 475m.
The US$2.5 billion fixed link was built by GK Corporation, a seven-contractor consortium led by Daewoo Engineering & Construction. A joint-venture of Halcrow and TEC provided technical consulting services to Daewoo E&C, in a design team led by Cowi.
Completion of the project reduces the distance between Busan and Geoje from 140km to 60km and the travel time between the two cities is now just 40 minutes instead of more than two hours.
