Road drainage installations to be tightened

Standards for road rain drainage installations will be tightened. The width of drainage gap will be narrowed to less than 2 centimeters.

The Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry said on Wednesday that the revised plan on construction standards was deliberated and voted for at the central construction technology deliberation committee. The revised bill will be notified in August.

The revision is to prevent accidents of high heels and inline skate wheels being jammed in cracks at crosswalks and sidewalks. The new bill mandates the use of products whose crack width is 2 centimeters or less. A ministry official said, "Currently, there is no particular standard, and there have been accidents because there were many places with big cracks." However, some critics say too narrow cracks will result in poor drainage when there are heavy rain falls.

Securing extra safety places at car exclusive roads will also become mandatory. When constructing road bridges longer than 500 meters that have no sidewalks, stairs for evacuation should be made in 250 meter intervals.

To prevent the controversial sinkhole accidents, the rule will be changed to allow the use of liquid fill materials such as soilcement at places where backfill after bed excavation is difficult. Currently there is no regulation on fill materials.

In addition, football or basketball goal posts at sports facilities near rivers or streams should be designed as movable or in tilt-top format so that water flow is not interfered when floods occur.

The ministry said the revised plan was made based on the recommendations from "public recommendation campaign" that ended Tuesday and experts` opinions.