'Busan→Seoul' 5 hours 40 minutes... Late holiday return peak at 3-4 PM

On the morning of the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the 12th, traffic congestion occurred on some sections of the highway due to the final wave of vehicles returning home.

According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 9 a.m. that day, the estimated travel time by passenger car from major city toll gates nationwide to Seoul is 5 hours 40 minutes from Busan, 5 hours 10 minutes from Ulsan, 4 hours 40 minutes from Daegu, 4 hours 30 minutes from Gwangju, 1 hour 34 minutes from Daejeon, and 2 hours 40 minutes from Gangneung.

Conversely, the travel time from Seoul to each city is 4 hours 40 minutes to Busan, 4 hours 10 minutes to Ulsan, 3 hours 40 minutes to Daegu, 3 hours 20 minutes to Gwangju, 1 hour 32 minutes to Daejeon, and 2 hours 50 minutes to Gangneung.

On the 8th, one day before the Lunar New Year holiday, the full-scale homecoming battle began as vehicles crowded the southbound lanes toward Busan on the Seoul Gyeongbu Expressway, causing traffic congestion. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

As of 9 a.m. that day, vehicles were unable to maintain normal speed only on a 3 km section toward Cheonan at Jeongan IC on the Nonsan-Cheonan Line. On the Yeongdong Line toward Gangneung, a single-car accident involving a passenger car has been under processing on the shoulder at the Ansan Junction exit since 8:22 a.m.

The Expressway Corporation expected that traffic flow toward the hometown direction would be relatively smooth that day. Congestion in the returning direction is expected to start between 10 and 11 a.m., peak between 3 and 4 p.m., and clear up around 11 p.m. to midnight.

In particular, traffic flow is expected to be congested on the Daejeon-Seoul, Gwangju-Seoul, and Mokpo-Seo Seoul sections.

The expected nationwide traffic volume that day is 4.2 million vehicles, a decrease of 950,000 vehicles compared to the previous day. It is expected that 340,000 vehicles will move from the metropolitan area to local areas, and 420,000 vehicles will move from local areas to the metropolitan area.