South Korea will announce its official launch of a large-scale construction project during the second half of this year to build an expressway linking Seoul and the new administrative capital city of Sejong, a government source said Thursday.

If the construction plan goes as planned, it would be completed by 2022, he said.

The 129-kilometer-long road would be one of Korea’s largest infrastructure construction projects and is expected to alleviate growing traffic volume on the Gyeongbu Expressway, which was built in 1970 and runs from Seoul to the southern port city of Busan.

The project to build the so-called second Gyeongbu expressway passed a feasibility test in 2009, but a detailed timetable including when to officially launch the project and break ground had not been determined due to challenges over raising an estimated 6.7 trillion won ($6.55 billion) needed for the construction. (Yonhap)