YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — A solution may be near for the twice-daily traffic jam that occurs at the intersection on the Main Post side of the new overpass.
The $7.9 million project overpass, which opened a month ahead of schedule on New Year’s Eve, has reduced the time it takes to get between Main and South posts. But vehicles are using the bridge at volumes three times more than planners expected, Area II commander Col. Timothy McNulty said during a radio talk show last week.
That has resulted in traffic jams at the four-way stop on Main Post. Part of the problem is a high number of pedestrians coming off of the bridge. There are three pedestrian crosswalks, and at peak times — such as lunch or around the end of the workday — pedestrians and vehicles converge.
The rules are simple: Vehicles must stop for pedestrians, who come in unsteady streams. Vehicle lines lengthen, drivers report, and the intersection slows to a choppy, painful pace.
Military police frequently are visible at the intersection, dispatched to keep traffic moving. Vehicles are allowed to move in groups; pedestrians must wait until enough of them gather to merit a traffic slowdown.
To help, the base has created a walking path underneath the bridge, an area where the contractor is expected to remove scaffolding soon, said Steve Oertwig, public affairs office for the Installation Management Agency-Korea Regional Office. Routing pedestrians under the bridge will prevent them from obstructing traffic, he said.
That walking path was opened Friday, Oertwig said. Officials also put up traffic signs Friday on the Main Post side of the overpass, prohibiting left turns during lunch hours and the afternoon rush.
Vehicles will not be allowed to drive under the overpass to reach the other side of the post, he said. “You have a lot of traffic that is going to the Moyer [Recreation Center] or the gallery or the PX that has to go across the street. That slows down traffic.”
The base also is examining how to improve the traffic flow, he said. McNulty mentioned modifying turn lanes, although no changes have yet been made.
Military police, when present, do not allow vehicles coming from South Post to turn left into the Moyer Recreation Center parking lot — which angers drivers but improves traffic flow, police said.
Before the bridge opened, to cross between Main and South posts vehicles used gates 7 and 8, repeatedly creating an evening traffic jam. The other option was a longer, more circuitous routes around Yongsan Garrison, taking vehicles into Seoul’s heavy street traffic.
Traffic flow now “is really is a big improvement over what we had before,” Oertwig said. “There are a lot of positive aspects that came out of opening that overpass.”
