Highway Traffic Jam Begins Before Holiday... Seoul to Busan Takes 4 Hours 40 Minutes

Vehicles are moving slowly on the southbound lanes of the Gyeongbu Expressway near Jamwon IC in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 10th, one day before the Lunar New Year holiday, the biggest traditional holiday of the nation. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] On the evening of the 10th, a day before the Lunar New Year holiday, traffic volume on highways nationwide began to increase. Although it was less than usual due to the impact of COVID-19, the mix of commuting and holiday-bound vehicles made it more congested than typical weekends.

According to Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 7:20 PM that day, vehicles were moving slowly over a total of 77 km on the Gyeongbu Expressway heading toward Busan, including sections from Hannam to Seocho (4 km), Seoul Tollgate to Suwon (12 km), and Ipjang to near Cheongju (48 km).

If departing from Seoul Tollgate by passenger car at 8 PM, the estimated travel times to major cities nationwide are 4 hours 40 minutes to Busan, 3 hours 50 minutes to Gwangju, 4 hours 20 minutes to Ulsan, and 2 hours 40 minutes to Gangneung. Traffic congestion in the direction of returning home is expected to peak between 6 and 7 PM and ease around 1 to 2 AM on the 11th. Roads in the direction of returning to the capital are expected to have smooth traffic flow around 9 to 10 PM.

Meanwhile, the Expressway Corporation forecasted the nationwide traffic volume to be 4.63 million vehicles that day. It is expected that 460,000 vehicles will move from the metropolitan area to local regions, and 420,000 vehicles will move from local regions to the metropolitan area.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.