South Korea opened the Gyeongin Expressway, connecting Seoul to the port city of Incheon. It is widely described as the country’s first expressway and helped set the pattern for later metropolitan highway building: faster travel between major economic centers and growing suburbs.
Seoul opened the first major segments of the Gangbyeon Expressway (Gangbyeonbuk-ro) along the north bank of the Han River. The road created a high-capacity east–west corridor inside the city, supporting rapid urban growth and rising car use.
Construction began on Olympic-daero (then often called the “Olympic Expressway”), a large expressway on the south bank of the Han River. It was planned to ease growing congestion in the expanding Gangnam area and to improve access to venues for the 1986 Asian Games and 1988 Olympics.
Olympic-daero opened, creating a second major Han River expressway corridor inside Seoul. Together with the older Gangbyeon route on the north bank, it strengthened cross-city movement and helped connect Seoul to expanding suburbs and airport routes.
Construction progressed on the Seobu Urban Expressway (Seobu Ganseondoro), a north–south route on the west side of Seoul. It was designed to improve freight and commuter movement between southwestern Seoul and nearby satellite cities, linking to national expressways and riverfront routes.
Work began on the first segment of the Seoul Ring Expressway (later renamed the Capital Region First Ring Expressway). The project aimed to route longer-distance traffic around the city rather than through central Seoul, and to connect fast-growing satellite cities in Gyeonggi Province.
The first open segment of the Seoul Ring Expressway connected Pangyo to Toegyewon. This early opening showed how a ring road could reduce pressure on inner-city arterials by providing a bypass for trips between suburbs.
The Dongbu Expressway (Dongbu Ganseon-doro) opened as a key urban expressway corridor along Seoul’s eastern side toward Uijeongbu. It added capacity for commuter traffic in the eastern metropolitan area and connected to other expressways and major arterials.
A new section opened between Pangyo and Sanbon, expanding the ring road’s usefulness for suburb-to-suburb travel. Each added link improved continuity, making the ring a more realistic alternative to driving through Seoul for regional trips.
The Gimpo–Jayu-ro section opened, tying the ring road into the Jayu Motorway corridor toward the northwest. This improved connections between western/northwestern satellite cities and the broader metropolitan highway network.
The Seoun–Jangsu section opened, bringing the ring road further into the western metro area, including corridors tied to Incheon and nearby new towns. These openings supported the shift toward a multi-centered metropolitan region, where many trips begin and end outside central Seoul.
Two key openings—Jangsu to Sanbon and Gimpo to Seoun—filled important gaps, making larger portions of the ring road function as a continuous bypass. As continuity improved, the expressway increasingly served freight and long-distance traffic that would otherwise cross urban Seoul.
The Ilsan–Jayu-ro section opened, strengthening the northern arc of the Seoul Ring Expressway. By the end of the 1990s, this type of metropolitan expressway building reflected the region’s rapid motorization and the policy goal of spreading traffic across multiple corridors.
Seoul Ring Expressway and metropolitan expressway expansion (1970–2000)