Lunar New Year Morning Seoul to Busan 4 Hours 50 Minutes... Traffic Jams on Highways

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] On the morning of the Lunar New Year’s Day, the 12th, highways nationwide are generally flowing smoothly, but congestion is occurring in some sections.

According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 9:20 a.m. that day, vehicles are moving slowly over a total distance of 7.52 km on the Gyeongbu Expressway in the Busan direction between Hannam Interchange and Seocho Interchange, and between Geumto Junction and Daewang Pangyo Interchange.

In particular, congestion is occurring in the 2 km section between Banpo and Seocho and near Dongtan Junction as the number of vehicles increases.

On the Seohaean Expressway, vehicles are moving slowly over a 3.8 km section from Palgok Junction to Maesong Interchange in the Mokpo direction.

Also, on the Jungbu Expressway in the Namyi direction, vehicles are crawling over a 5.23 km section from Hanam Interchange to Sangok Junction, and on the Yeongdong Expressway in the Gangneung direction, congestion is occurring over a 2 km section near Yongin to Yangji Tunnel.

On the Gwangju-Wonju Expressway in the Wonju direction, vehicles are moving slowly from Gyeonggi Gwangju Junction to Gonjiam 1 Tunnel (east side), and the 2 km section from Chowol to Chowol Tunnel is also congested.

On the Namhae Expressway in the Suncheon direction, vehicles are gradually increasing and showing slow movement over a total distance of 13.9 km between Bukchangwon Interchange and Chilwon Junction.

The Expressway Corporation forecasted that both outbound and return traffic will be on the highways simultaneously, causing severe congestion in both directions from morning until late at night.

The corporation expects nationwide traffic volume to reach 4.29 million vehicles. It anticipates 390,000 vehicles moving from the metropolitan area to local regions and 380,000 vehicles moving from local regions to the metropolitan area.

Outbound traffic congestion is expected to start between 7 and 8 a.m., peak around noon to 1 p.m., and ease between 7 and 8 p.m. Return traffic congestion is expected to begin between 9 and 10 a.m., peak between 1 and 2 p.m., and ease between 10 and 11 p.m.

At 10 a.m., the estimated travel time by passenger car from Seoul Tollgate to major cities nationwide is 4 hours 50 minutes to Busan, 3 hours 40 minutes to Gwangju, 3 hours 50 minutes to Daegu, and 3 hours 10 minutes to Gangneung.

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