The highway was removed in Seoul and the river concreted in the last century was returned

To be hidden in an underground collector, hidden under a layer of concrete to free up space for another skyscraper or freeway - this is the sad fate of most small rivers that flow in megacities. They are usually very dirty, filled with all kinds of drains, have an unsightly appearance and only spoil the panorama of the growing city. Well, if it is also the capital of the state, then in such cases the rivers sooner or later end up in the sewers. Although such stories have a completely unexpected continuation when the river is returned back to the surface, as happened in Seoul.

When in the middle of the last century the population of South Korea began to grow rapidly, this primarily concerned the capital of the country. Seoul is constantly expanding, occupying the free suburban spaces, and ultimately has become one of the most populated cities in the world. Old quarters with narrow streets, a heap of houses and shops were mercilessly rebuilt, since such a format no longer corresponded to a city with a population of more than 10 million people. The city river Chongechekhon, which was once located in the center of a modern city, but eventually began to interfere with the development of urban infrastructure, went underground. It was decided to remove the river, and in its place to build one of the many highways, which will at least partially solve the problem of congestion on the roads. Work on the construction of the road on the site of the former river took more than 20 years, while about 5.8 kilometers of the riverbed were concreted.

Seoul at the beginning of the 21st century is a large metropolis with many environmental problems that need to be addressed as soon as possible. It turned out that in the city itself there were no significant parklands of greenery and the townspeople simply had nowhere to go out to breathe in the air - they could only leave outside Seoul. In addition, the health of the townspeople, especially those living near the main highways, began to deteriorate - constant air pollution affected them. And in this difficult situation, city planners remembered the Chonghekhon River, which was once hidden underground.

Of course, the return of the river instead of the established transport routes did not cause everyone to understand, but the engineers and city governors managed to realize their bold plan to return the river. In order to prevent the transport accessibility of the part of the city where the river flows, a whole range of measures was implemented here, from the organization of additional bus routes to the regulation of travel on even and odd days.

The river itself, of course, returned to the townspeople in a completely different guise. In the valley, a real park ensemble was organized with a promenade, green spaces and thematic areas. Numerous tourists and enthusiastic guests of the capital do not even realize that until recently this river was not on the city map, but instead there was a busy freeway.