Chuseok Return Traffic Congests Highways Across South Korea
South Korea’s highways faced heavy Chuseok return traffic on Saturday, with 5.9 million vehicles expected nationwide and congestion forecast to continue into early Sunday.
Major highways across South Korea became heavily congested Saturday as millions of travelers began returning from family visits during the four-day Chuseok holiday.
The Korea Expressway Corp. estimated that about 5.9 million vehicles would use roads nationwide during the day. Of those, roughly 520,000 vehicles were expected to travel from regions outside the greater Seoul area toward the capital region, while about 380,000 were forecast to leave the metropolitan area.
Traffic toward Seoul began building early in the day as holidaymakers headed home after hometown visits. Conditions in the opposite direction had eased somewhat, although lengthy journeys were still expected on several major routes. The state-run road operator forecast that congestion would reach its peak between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday and would not fully subside until between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Sunday.
At 9 a.m., the estimated driving time from Busan to Seoul was seven hours. Trips to the capital were projected to take six hours and 40 minutes from Mokpo, six hours from Daegu and five hours and 20 minutes from Gwangju.
Southbound travel remained slow as well. A trip from Seoul to Busan was expected to take five hours and 10 minutes, while travel from the capital to Daegu was estimated at four hours and 10 minutes. The journey from Seoul to Gwangju was projected at three hours and 20 minutes.
The congestion came on the third day of this year’s Chuseok break, which runs from Thursday through Sunday. Chuseok is one of South Korea’s most important traditional holidays and typically produces some of the year’s busiest road conditions as people travel to their hometowns for family gatherings, ancestral rites and shared holiday meals.
Saturday’s pattern reflected the shift from outbound holiday travel to the large-scale return to the Seoul metropolitan area. With more vehicles expected to enter the capital region than leave it, motorists returning later in the day faced the prospect of prolonged delays well into the night. Travelers were advised to account for the extended journey times as traffic volumes approached the afternoon peak.