Outbound traffic congestion is expected to peak on Sunday, the second day of the Lunar New Year holiday, as more people head to their hometowns. According to the Korea Expressway Corp., the heaviest traffic on outbound routes will occur between noon and 1 p.m. A drive from Seoul to Busan is projected to take about six hours and 10 minutes.
South Korea will observe Seol, the major Lunar New Year holiday, on Tuesday, with the holiday period running from the weekend through Wednesday. The state-run Korea Expressway Corp. estimates that about 5 million vehicles will travel nationwide on Sunday, including 450,000 cars leaving the greater Seoul area and 380,000 heading toward it.
As of 8 a.m., a drive from Seoul to the southeastern port city of Busan, about 330 kilometers away, was expected to take about six hours and 10 minutes, while a trip to Daegu, some 240 km southeast of Seoul, was expected to take 5 hours and 10 minutes. Travel times heading toward Seoul were relatively shorter, taking 5 hours and 10 minutes from Busan to Seoul and 4 hours and 10 minutes from Daegu to Seoul.
Traffic caused by cars on outbound routes was expected to be the heaviest between noon and 1 p.m. and ease from around 8 to 9 p.m. The Gyeongbu Expressway in southern Seoul was packed with vehicles on Sunday, the second day of the holiday.
This surge reflects the annual tradition of families traveling to hometowns during the Lunar New Year, leading to widespread congestion on major highways.
