Highways across South Korea remained clogged with holiday travelers on the 25th, the main day of the Chuseok holiday and the second day of the break, as congestion persisted in both directions.
Traffic nationwide was projected at about 6.84 million vehicles for the day, according to the Korea Expressway Corporation. An estimated 470,000 vehicles were expected to leave the greater Seoul area for other regions, while 460,000 were expected to travel into the capital region.
As of 9 a.m., estimated travel times from the Seoul tollgate to major cities were eight hours and 40 minutes to Busan, eight hours and 20 minutes to Ulsan, seven hours and 40 minutes to Daegu, six hours and 10 minutes to Gwangju, four hours and 10 minutes to Gangneung, and three hours and 50 minutes to Daejeon.
Estimated times from each city to Seoul were seven hours and 50 minutes from Busan, seven hours and 30 minutes from Ulsan, seven hours from Mokpo, six hours and 50 minutes from Daegu, six hours and 50 minutes from Gwangju, three hours and 30 minutes from Gangneung, and three hours from Daejeon.
On the Gyeongbu Expressway heading toward Busan, vehicles were moving below normal speeds along a 10-kilometer stretch from the Dongtan junction to Namsa and a 22-kilometer stretch from the Manghyang rest area to the Cheonan Hodu rest area.
On the Seoul-Yangyang Expressway heading toward Yangyang, traffic was crawling along a 19-kilometer stretch from Gangil to Seojong. On the West Coast Expressway heading toward Mokpo, congestion continued along an eight-kilometer stretch from near Bibong to the Hwaseong rest area, a six-kilometer stretch from the Seo-Pyeongtaek junction to Seo-Pyeongtaek, and a six-kilometer stretch from Seo-Pyeongtaek to the Seohae Grand Bridge.
On the Gwangju-Wonju Expressway heading toward Wonju, vehicles were backed up along a 10-kilometer stretch from Dongyangpyeong to Seo-Wonju and a 12-kilometer stretch from Heungcheon-Ipo to the Daesin tunnel.
The corporation said outbound congestion, which began the previous day on the first day of the holiday, would peak between 1 and 2 p.m. before easing around 7 to 8 p.m. Return traffic toward the capital was expected to be heaviest between 3 and 5 p.m., with congestion clearing around 2 to 3 a.m. the following day.
