ULSAN — Ulsan has decided to proceed as planned with construction of the Ulsan Urban Railway (Tram) Line 1, a project the city had considered halting over its heavy fiscal burden and concerns about downtown traffic congestion. The city concluded there was no lawful way to avoid the legal and financial fallout — including astronomical damages claims and the return of state funding — if it scrapped contracts already signed. Ulsan plans to put the project back on track by relocating the vehicle depot and rolling out intensive traffic measures.
Kim Chang-hyun, head of Ulsan's transportation bureau, announced the findings of the city's review of Tram Line 1 and a comprehensive traffic plan to minimize public inconvenience at a press conference at city hall on the 22nd. Tram Line 1, a 10.85-kilometer route from Taehwagang Station to Sinbok Intersection with 15 stops and a total project cost of 381.4 billion won (approximately $280 million), had been at a crossroads after Mayor Kim Sang-wook, who took office in July, ordered a review from scratch, citing rising construction costs, projected operating losses and traffic congestion from the permanent loss of two road lanes. Earlier, the city cut about 14.5 billion won from the budget for the Jangsaengpo hydrogen tram, a tourism-oriented line, in a supplementary budget and shifted it to long-term review, citing the collapse of plans for a pedestrian overpass and concerns about losses.
But Tram Line 1 was constrained by the fact that the previous administration signed final contracts with Hyundai Rotem, which is building the vehicles, and a consortium led by Hanshin Engineering & Construction for design and construction in March and April, near the end of its term. The city explored every avenue for a lawful halt in recent months, but all of them failed. An ordinance to open the project to public deliberation was rejected by the city council in July, and inquiries to the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety all returned the answer that the city could neither terminate the contracts nor withhold payment for a work suspension lasting more than 60 days. Negotiations with the contractors for a mutual termination also broke down, and legal advice concluded that responsibility for securing the depot site and for delays to the schedule and budget rested entirely with the city, making the return of state funds, sunk costs and damages lawsuits unavoidable in the event of a unilateral breach.
Having opted to restart the project, the city said it would concentrate its administrative resources on reducing fiscal risk and easing traffic disruption. On the 19th, it decided to move the vehicle depot, originally to be built on the plaza at Taehwagang Station, to an alternative site along the route. The decision followed a study finding that relocating a high-pressure underground natural gas pipeline and reinforcing soft ground would push the schedule 27 months beyond the 45-month contract period and drive construction costs more than 30 billion won higher.
To head off gridlock in the city center, Ulsan will also launch a comprehensive traffic plan made up of 20 tasks across five areas. Seven of those measures will be concentrated on the Munsu-ro corridor, where analysis showed average travel speeds would fall from 13.7 to 22.0 kilometers per hour to between 4.5 and 7.4 kilometers per hour during construction, with the level of service dropping to the lowest grades of FF and FFF.
The city will convert the Gongeoptap rotary into a five-way at-grade intersection and improve detour routes, widening Daegongwon-ro to the south from 8 meters to between 12 and 15 meters and converting Beopdae-ro 81-gil, Geoma-ro and Eunwol-ro to the north to two-way traffic. Left turns will be banned at congestion points and signals reorganized around through traffic to raise road capacity by 20% to 30%, while sidewalk setbacks and building stations in two halves will keep lane closures to a minimum. Other plans include creating three waiting areas for private tutoring shuttle buses in Okdong, each measuring 10 by 40 meters, opening a 2.61-kilometer four-lane detour north of Munsu-ro ahead of schedule, standardizing the speed limit at 50 kilometers per hour, raising public parking fees and concentrating city bus dispatches.
"Since we have neither the authority nor the means to lawfully halt the project at this point, we will proceed in line with the law and the contracts while doing our utmost to reduce the fiscal burden," Kim said. "We will keep improving our traffic measures so that residents' daily lives do not come to a stop during construction, and we will see this through responsibly to the end."