Dongbaek Bridge, Road bridge between Gunsan and Seocheon County, South Korea
Dongbaek Bridge is a road bridge that crosses the Geum River estuary, connecting Gunsan-si in Jeollabuk-do with Seocheon-gun in Chungcheongnam-do. The structure carries traffic on National Highways 4 and 77, serving as a key link between the two administrative regions.
A bridge between Gunsan and Seocheon was decided on 10 August 2005, and construction began on 9 September 2008 with 224.5 billion won in state funds. The name Dongbaek Bridge was fixed on 29 March 2016 after a public naming contest, and the bridge opened on 27 December 2018.
The name Dongbaek means camellia, the flower that is both the city flower of Gunsan and the county flower of Seocheon. A 2015 public naming contest drew entries such as Geumgang Noeul Bridge and Jinpo Bridge, but the two administrations agreed on Dongbaek in October 2015, confirmed by the National Geographic Names Committee in March 2016. The camellia's flower language, "I love you more than anyone," was read as a wish for the two local governments to prosper together.
Dongbaek Bridge carries National Highways 4 and 77 over the sea at the mouth of the Geum River, downstream of the Geum River Estuary Barrage, so it is a tidal crossing rather than a river one. The deck runs 1,930 m, or 3.185 km including the connecting roads, between Haemang-dong in Gunsan and Janghang-eup in Seocheon. Drivers should expect open coastal wind on the crossing.
The name was chosen in 2015 because both Gunsan's city flower and Seocheon's county flower are the camellia, whose meaning in the language of flowers is "I love you more than anyone". Other contest entries included Geumgang Noeul Bridge and Gibeolpo Bridge. The name was confirmed by the National Geographic Names Committee on 28 March 2016.
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