Homes Built First, Roads 8 Years Later? Delayed Infrastructure Leaves Residents Frustrated

[Anchor]

Residents in new towns are repeatedly facing inconveniences as houses are built, but roads remain drastically insufficient. Critics point out that as the government emphasizes accelerated housing supply, key infrastructure must also be built in a timely manner to keep pace.

Reporter Jeon Hyeong-u went to the scene.

[Reporter]

This is the Janghyeon district in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.

It is a public housing district on the scale of a new town with 18,000 households, where the main complexes were completed in 2024.

Two years into occupancy, the surrounding roads remain exactly as they were before residents moved in.

This is a road heading toward Seoul from the Siheung Janghyeon district, and it is still only two lanes in one direction.

While metropolitan transportation improvement measures were established during the housing site development—such as expanding roads and creating intersections—all seven planned roads are scheduled to be completed only by 2032.

[Siheung Janghyeon District Resident: It is very narrow and congested during the morning commute. Both sides of this road are far too narrow, so cars get stuck in traffic.]

Out of 96 infrastructure facilities related to resident living in small and medium-sized public housing projects in the capital area conducted by LH, 52 turned out to be completed only after residents moved in.

The situation is similar for third-generation new towns where occupancy begins in December of this year.

This is a road near the Incheon Gyeyang district.

The road is narrow at two lanes in one direction, and severe congestion occurs as cars tangle at a Y-shaped intersection.

Road expansion and intersection improvements were scheduled to be completed by this year, but the completion date has been pushed back to 2030 due to delays in administrative approval by Incheon City.

In the Hanam Gyosan district, administrative delays have also pushed back the opening of 10 roads—which should have been completed one to two years ago—from 2030 to 2032.

Out of 89 metropolitan transportation projects across five third-generation new town districts, 69 have reportedly failed to break ground, and schedules for eight have yet to be determined.

[Kang Dae-shik / National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee Member (People Power Party): We must prioritize transportation facilities needed before occupancy, and intensively support budgets and administrative procedures for delayed projects to move up the opening dates...]

Experts point out that building only housing without timely delivery of roads and transportation facilities inevitably increases resident inconvenience and halves the effectiveness of housing supply, making it essential to strictly manage project schedules, such as shortening the processing time for administrative approvals.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
Reported by Jeon Hyeong-u | Video by Lim Woo-sik and Kang Dong-cheol | Video Editing by Lee So-young | VJ: Jeong Han-wuk
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.