Return trip highway traffic generally smooth... Increase in vehicles returning home

Traffic congestion in habitual bottleneck sections such as Singal~Suwon and Ipjang~Manghyang

On the 30th, during the Lunar New Year holiday, traffic congestion continues on the southbound lanes (right side) of the Gyeongbu Expressway as seen from Jamwon IC in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] On the afternoon of the 31st, the day before Seollal, nationwide highways generally showed smooth traffic flow, with the number of returning vehicles gradually increasing.

According to Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 4:30 PM that day, congestion occurred on a 4 km section from Hannam to Seocho on the Gyeongbu Expressway heading toward Busan, and traffic jams appeared on a total of 14 km sections including 4 km from near Giheung to Suwon and 7 km from near Yangjae to Banpo heading toward Seoul.

On the Seohaean Expressway, traffic toward Mokpo was smooth, while congestion continued on 19 km sections including 13 km from Dangjin to Seohae Bridge and 4 km from Iljik Junction to Geumcheon heading toward Seoul.

On the Jungbu Expressway, traffic was congested on 7 km sections including 3 km near Seocheongju and 4 km near Iljuk heading toward Hanam.

On the Capital Region 1st Ring Expressway (Seoul Outer Ring Expressway), traffic was slow on an 8 km section including 6 km from near Sorae Tunnel to Jungdong heading toward Ilsan. On the Guri direction, congestion continued on a 2 km section from Hanam Junction to Sangil.

On that day, the nationwide traffic volume was 4.32 million vehicles, with 390,000 vehicles expected to move from the metropolitan area to local areas and 390,000 vehicles from local areas to the metropolitan area, respectively.

The Expressway Corporation expected traffic congestion to peak around 12 to 1 PM and ease around 4 to 5 PM. The returning traffic congestion was expected to reach its maximum around 4 to 5 PM and gradually smooth out around 8 to 9 PM.

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