A diving bridge in Seoul

Do you know the bridge which dives into the water when the flood happens? In Seoul, there is a bridge called Banpo Bridge, which has two bridge decks, the 1st floor is Jamsu(dive or submerge) Bridge, and the 2nd floor is Banpo.

This bridge was constructed in 1975 and its total length and width are 795m, 18m.

It crosses the Han River in Seoul and connects the district of Yongsan-gu and Seocho-gu. The bridge was laid just meters above the waterline, to let the bridge submerge during periods of high rainfall. After that, in 1982, Banpo Bridge was built on top of the Jamsu bridge, completing a two-deck bridge project. Jamsu Bridge has 1 round triplane of the driveway, the roads for bikes, and the ways for pedestrians.

Because of the high rainfall, waterline increases until the bridge sinks; the bridge submerges.

(When rains heavily, then water level goes up)

If so, the bridge and the roads are sinking; all the passages will be restricted due to the high water level. One of its interesting parts is the fence. Since the fences are foldable, they don't block the floating matters caused by discharging the dam, when it rains heavily.

Here is the main purpose of the Jamsu bridge. In 1975, before this bridge began to be constructed, the Military Administration was concerning about the invasion of North Korea. When it happens, crossing the river becomes very important for the military. They needed to cross the river as fast as they could in an emergency situation, even North Korea blew up the bridge. So they built the bridge as the pillars have 15m of dense width compared to the other normal bridges, and the height of the deck is very low so that it’s easy to repair its road. The bridge is able to be repaired quickly, the military equipment and soldiers can cross the river.

Jamsu bridge is a pretty interesting bridge in Seoul. It will be a nice experience to visit this bridge once.