It isn’t Chuseok without the traffic: Roads to Busan, elsewhere congested as journey home begins
Estimates eased in the afternoon, with travel from Seoul to Busan taking around 6 hours and 40 minutes.
Traffic is heavy in the southbound lanes of the Gyeongbu Expressway in southern Seoul on Sept. 24.
YONHAP
Road congestion continues on major highways across Korea as traffic builds on the first day of the Chuseok holiday on Thursday.
Traffic is moving somewhat more smoothly than in the morning, however, with estimated travel times from Seoul to major cities gradually falling.
As of 2 p.m., the estimated travel time from Seoul stood at 6 hours and 40 minutes to Busan; 6 hours and 20 minutes to Ulsan; 5 hours and 50 minutes to Mokpo, South Jeolla; 5 hours and 40 minutes to Daegu; 5 hours and 30 minutes to Gwangju; 4 hours and 40 minutes to Gangneung, Gangwon; and 3 hours and 10 minutes to Daejeon, according to the Korea Expressway Corporation.
Travel from each city to Seoul, on the other hand, was expected to take 5 hours from Busan, 4 hours and 40 minutes from Ulsan, 3 hours and 49 minutes from Mokpo, 4 hours from Daegu, 3 hours and 20 minutes from Gwangju, 3 hours and 10 minutes from Gangneung and 2 hours and 10 minutes from Daejeon.
The estimated travel times had fallen by about 2 to 3 hours compared with the morning. However, traffic remained heavily congested around major junctions and other key sections of the highways.
On the Gyeongbu Expressway toward Busan, traffic moved slowly along an 11-kilometer (6.8-mile) stretch from Dongtan Junction to near Namsa, a 27-kilometer stretch from near North Cheonan to near Oksan Junction, a 21-kilometer stretch from near Jugam Rest Area to Biryong Junction and a 15-kilometer stretch from near Okcheon to Geumgang.
On the Seohaean Expressway toward Mokpo, traffic remained slow along 13 kilometers from near Baran to West Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi, 15 kilometers from near Gwangcheon to near Daecheon in South Chungcheong and 13 kilometers from near Buan to near Julpo in North Jeolla.
The Korea Expressway Corporation expects congestion on roads carrying holiday traffic away from Seoul to ease around 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Traffic heading back toward Seoul is expected to become smoother around 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The Korea Expressway Corporation estimates that 6.16 million vehicles will travel nationwide on Thursday. About 510,000 vehicles are expected to travel from the Seoul metropolitan area to other parts of the country, while about 380,000 are expected to travel from other regions to the capital region.
BY KIM JI-HYE [[email protected]]
