Spanning about 21 kilometers connecting the Yeonjong Island (where Incheon International Airport sits) with the new Songdo City, this bridge is imposing, awesome and loooooong!
I usually do not cross this bridge on my way from Seoul to the Incheon International Airport, but thanks to my friend Seung-Ho; he gave me a ride and detoured from the usual route so that I would be able to finally traverse this very expensive bridge. Total cost? Almost two and half trillion won! That’s ‘2’ with 12 zeroes! I could buy a plane with that! Ha-ha-ha!
The bridge was built between 2005 and 2009, and according to its official information, the bridge can withstand a magnitude 7 earthquake! Its expected useful life is a hundred years.
Driving through the bridge, you can see these thick cables connected to the two main towers which form inverted ‘V’s. This is why it’s called a cable-stayed bridge because cables help to support the whole bridge.
And for safety reasons, no vehicle is allowed to stop in the middle of the six-lane highway (three lanes to one direction). That’s why the photos I was able to take are all from a fast-moving vehicle. But thinking we were driving over the deep, blue sea, I wouldn’t stop to take photos! It was windy and I might just get blown away, down into the freezing waters! My primary goal was to catch my flight, not drown in my travelling clothes. Ha-ha-ha!
So the next time you have the chance to pass through the new Incheon Songdo City on your way to the Incheon International Airport, do try traversing the Incheon Bridge, which claims to be the fifth longest cable-stayed bridge in the world in terms of span.
"For tourists arriving in Korea, this bridge should be part of the tour!", maybe i tell little bit more: "Every tourist coming from his country to Incheon and moving to other destination HAS TO pass this bridge. No way :)"
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