Main Gate: Still Under Construction

  Lee Bo-won(’16, Dept. of Information & Statistics) always passes the CBNU main gate area on the way to and from school as a commuter. The first main gate he saw was a field under construction. When he saw it for the first time, he frowned and commented, “It is really not like a front gate. Since it’s under construction, the view is not good.” Its visual factor is not the only thing that makes students frown. Cho Seong-jun(’16, Dept. of Safety Engineering) said, “It is so uncomfortable since there is no proper pedestrian way, and I was almost hit by a car when I was passing the front gate.” Both brought up the discomfort and safety issues.
  The risky construction now in progress is the Cheong-ju city’s Rainwater Detention Facility, and its following the main gate’s reconstruction and park project. The Rainwater Detention Facility is a facility that saves rainwater during a downpour and redistributes the water out after the rain stops. The CBNU main gate area has experienced frequent flood damage due to its low elevation. Therefore, the Cheong-ju city selected the CBNU main gate and the whole area as a work site to minimize the CBNU main gate’s five-way intersection’s traffic congestion.
  During the construction, the existing main gate’s removal became inevitable. Hence, CBNU received one billion won in support for the main gate’s reconstruction from the Cheong-ju government and carried forward the main gate’s reconstruction and park project.
Our university’s civil engineering team leader, Kim Jong-mun(Team Manager, Facilities Division), said, “The original plans for both constructions were to complete it by last December, but the main gate’s reconstruction was delayed due to the Rainwater Detention Facility construction being hampered by the freezing season,” and he predicted that both will be completed by the end of April this year. As much as the students’ inconveniences are brought up in various ways, I expect the main gate will successfully reach completion with no more delays.

Jungmoon: Upcoming Reformation

  Last November, the Cheong-ju city announced the ‘Jungmoon Cultural Art Project’. Our school’s middle entrance area, also known as Jungmoon, is over-populated with efficiency apartments and stores, and it has lots of vehicular traffic and illegally parked cars, so civil complaints are frequent because of the pedestrians’ inconveniences and increasing accidents. For that, the city submitted the 2016 Pedestrian Environment Improvement Project, hosted by the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, and it was selected as a project district.
  On March 8th, the Cheong-ju city held a project explanation with CBNU’s finance team manager and student president about Joongmoon’s development. Regarding the results of the council, the city government’s officer in charge, Choi Jae-hyeok(Regional Development Division), commented, “We completed the consultation about the land ownership problem with CBNU, and the paperwork about transferring ownership is now in progress.” The officer also said that the design work is ongoing. He also stated that actual construction will begin in early May.
  Last July, the Cheong-ju city  finished the pedestrian environment improvement project. Although the previous project added repaved pedestrian paths, speed bumps, skid proof pavement and crosswalks, students’ perspectives were that there is no effect at all. Baek Ji-seon(’15, Dept. of Public Administration), said, “Even though this costs a lot , I can’t feel any difference with any street in Jungmoon. I can’t walk on sidewalks due to the illegally parked cars, and it looks so unclean with lots of trash.”
  As it is planning to invest an enormous amount of money, effective environmental improvements should be implemented. On the other hand, our students’ and citizens’ public awareness should also be improved to make a clean, garbage-free Jungmoon. Unless it is postponed, let’s anticipate a new cultural art street that will be newly born in December.

By Min Tae-kwan
tk36@cbnu.ac.kr