2,000 people share fried chicken at 400-meter table on Seoul bridge to mark car traffic ban

Seoul laid a 400-meter table along Jamsu Bridge for a fried chicken feast on Oct. 25, hours before the 50-year-old Han River crossing closed to cars for good.

Jamsu Bridge Chicken Day, part of the city government's Car-Free Jamsu Bridge Ttubeok-Ttubeok Festival, ran two 90-minute dining sessions at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., The Korea Herald reported.

The news agency News1 reported that 2,000 people dined at the table, colored yellow to symbolize chicken, at what was the festival's last event of the year.

Jamsu Bridge across the Han River in Seoul. Photo by Seoul Metropolitan Government

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon toured the event and told reporters the city had analyzed traffic volumes and judged that traffic could be handled even with the bridge turned into a pedestrian-only crossing, the agency said.

"I expect it to become a pedestrian-only bridge loved by far more citizens than it has been so far," he said.

Vehicles were banned from the bridge from midnight on Oct. 26 as construction began on what the Seoul Metropolitan Government says will be the first pedestrian-only bridge over the Han River.

Pedestrians and cyclists can still cross for now, and the work is due to finish in August 2027.

The plans include a wider pedestrian deck, 22 new spots for viewing the river and transparent deck sections over the two navigation channels where boats pass, the city said.

Opened in 1976, the 795-meter Jamsu Bridge runs beneath Banpo Bridge and sits low enough over the river that it sometimes floods during heavy rain. Two of its four lanes were given over to pedestrians and cyclists in 2008.