Transport infrastructure opens new routes and creates connections. It increases prosperity by generating economic opportunities, reducing transport costs and supporting agglomeration economies. But the increased traffic flows that generate benefits also generate environmental and social costs, including an increase in the risk of severe accidents.

Access to efficient and safe infrastructure and high-quality public services, independent of a person’s wealth or status, is essential for economic development that benefits all citizens, often referred to as “inclusive growth”. In Korea, the total length of paved roads increased dramatically between 1951, from 580 kilometres to more than 87 000 kilometres. This expansion of Korea’s expressway, highway and major road network has created benefits for cities and rural areas across the country, contributing to both economic growth and inclusiveness. But this rapid development of road infrastructure and motorisation have also resulted in relatively high traffic fatality rates.

This chapter describes the economic development of Korea and its accompanying expansion of the road network. It introduces the concept of “inclusive growth”, describes the Korean government’s efforts for “balanced development” and considers how roads can contribute to growth and inclusiveness. A discussion of the “preliminary feasibility study” developed in Korea – an ex-ante assessment of the impact of major infrastructure investment – is followed by an empirical investigation of the outcomes related to the expansion of Korea’s road network. This “ex-post assessment” considers the impact of new roads by linking the increase in access and connectivity that they create to industrial and social outcomes.

This chapter details the challenges Korea faces in road traffic safety. It combines an international comparison of traffic safety trends with a detailed analysis of Korean accident data. The analysis on Korea uses a novel data set that contains more than 1 800 records of individual road traffic accidents with more than 6 500 affected individuals and data from the detailed analysis of 1 000 accidents around “accident hotspots”. The analysis of accident data is complemented by an in-depth assessment of the complex traffic safety governance arrangements in Korea and an identification of key areas for further improvement.