In the late 1960s, an unfamiliar light appeared south of the Han River, in an area that still lacked reliable electricity. It came from a generator at a construction site where workers were building a bridge across the river. Hannam Bridge, which opened in 1969 as the Third Han River Bridge, paved the way for Seoul to expand into land that would later be known as Gangnam.
Just 70 years earlier, conditions on the Han River had been entirely different. Before permanent bridges existed, people crossed rivers by wading, by stepping stones, by ferry boats, or over pontoon bridges made by lashing together multiple vessels. But on the Han River, wide and deep, ferries and pontoon bridges were effectively the only options.
The first structure to transform the river's landscape was the Han River Railway Bridge, completed in 1900. Its construction was entangled in the complex international politics of the late Joseon era. A construction concession obtained in 1896 by American James Morse was transferred to Japan because of funding shortfalls, and the bridge was ultimately completed by Japan as part of the Gyeongin Line, Korea's first railway, linking Seoul and Incheon. It was both the site where modern civil engineering arrived on the Han River and a structure that embodied Japan's expanding influence at the time.
In 1936, Gwangjin Bridge was built at Gwangnaru, the eastern gateway to the old capital of Hanyang, to address rising traffic volumes along with flooding and icing problems. To the west, Yanghwa Bridge was completed in 1965 using domestic technology, and as Yeouido development advanced, Mapo Bridge opened in 1970 and Wonhyo Bridge in 1981. Each new bridge altered the flow of people and goods and created new areas of daily life.
The bridges that most dramatically redrew Seoul's map were those reaching south of the Han River. After Hannam Bridge became the axis of Gangnam development, Yeongdong Bridge connected Gangnam with the Ttukseom area in 1973. In 1985, Dongho Bridge opened, carrying both subway Line 3 and road traffic. As travel times between Gangnam and Gangbuk shortened, the two sides of the Han River gradually merged into a single living area.
As the number of bridges and traffic volumes grew sharply, bridge safety emerged as a new challenge. The collapse of Seongsu Bridge on Oct. 21, 1994, brought that lesson home painfully. Seongsu Bridge reopened in 1997, and safety standards for bridges were tightened thereafter.
Bridges also evolved from transit routes into spaces where residents linger and enjoy themselves. Banpo Bridge, the country's first double-deck bridge, was built above Jamsu Bridge, which was designed to be submerged during floods. After the Moonlight Rainbow Fountain was installed there, a bridge that drivers had merely passed over became an attraction that residents and tourists visit on purpose.
As Seoul's daily living area expanded into the wider metropolitan region, bridges stretched beyond the city's boundaries. Haengju Bridge supported the growth of the Ilsan new town area, and Banghwa Bridge, completed in 2001, became a symbol of the airport corridor. To the east, Gangdong Bridge and Guri-Amsa Bridge linked Seoul with the eastern part of the metropolitan area. Godeok-Topyeong Bridge, which opened in 2025, set a world record for concrete cable-stayed bridges with a 540-meter span between its main towers. With each new bridge, not only the city's boundaries but also the "time distance" residents experienced changed.
When railways were needed, railway bridges were built; when Gangnam development began, bridges linking north and south followed one after another. In an era when Seoul aspired to become an international city, bridges were given beauty and symbolism, and after new towns and the airport emerged, they tied Seoul and the surrounding region into a single living area. The process of bridges multiplying across the Han River is also an urban chronicle showing in which directions Seoul has grown.
Seoul has recently compiled this history of Han River bridges into two volumes, "Bridges of the Han River," the 10th and 11th installments of its "Han River Story Series." The books trace Seoul's transformation through 29 bridges, from the premodern period when the Han River had no bridges, through Gangnam development, to today's megacity. They also show why each bridge was placed where it was and how it changed surrounding areas, drawing on archival materials including old photographs, paintings, maps and drawings.
The "Han River Story Series," which Seoul has been publishing since 2024, now comprises 12 volumes including these two. The series contains 1,139 photographs, paintings, maps and drawings in total, an average of 95 per volume, and can be viewed free of charge on the Han River Park website.
