[Anchor]
As construction for Gwangju Metro Line 2 drags on, safety accidents and inconveniences for citizens are occurring back-to-back at construction sites across the city. With sections yet to break ground still remaining, concerns over safety management are growing.
KBC reporter Yang Hyu-chang has the story.
[Reporter]
A three-lane one-way road near Cheomdan Bridge in Buk-gu, Gwangju.
A streetlight suddenly plummets onto a vehicle passing near the construction site.
Heavy machinery working at the site struck the streetlight, causing it to collapse onto the moving vehicle.
[Driver at the time of the accident: The head of the streetlight dropped right onto the roof of my car. It was my first time experiencing such an accident, so I was quite terrified and my hands and feet were trembling.]
Fortunately, no one was injured, but had the streetlight crashed through the windshield, it could have led to a major disaster.
Previously, at another subway construction site, protective walls and safety fences collapsed in succession, disrupting vehicle traffic.
In fact, 640 civil complaints related to the subway construction have been filed this year alone, including inconveniences in vehicle traffic, risks of accidents, and demands for damage compensation.
Inconveniences and safety concerns among drivers persist as the construction narrows the width of roads and eliminates or squeezes lanes.
[Driver: Traffic congestion is too severe, and because the construction goes on for too long, there is a lot of inconvenience. When cars pass through, it is not smooth and looks dangerous.]
This is a subway construction site.
As you can see, various guide lines in black, white, and other colors are tangled together, having been repeatedly erased and redrawn to the point where they are hard to make out.
The problem is that sections where construction has not even begun still remain.
Section 7, connecting Chonnam National University to Ochi-dong, and Section 10, connecting Bonchon-dong to Yangsan-dong, have yet to even break ground.
Particularly around Chonnam National University, where floating populations are heavy and road widths are narrow, safety concerns are raised not only for vehicles but also for pedestrians once construction begins.
As construction prolongs, more thorough safety management is demanded to reduce citizens inconveniences and prevent accidents.
(Video by: Jang Chang-geon, Kim Young-hwi KBC)
Yang Hyu-chang, KBC
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