"Busan to Seoul in Six Hours": Traffic Congestion Builds on Return Trip As Holiday Nears End

Traffic congestion is building across expressways heading toward Seoul as vehicles hit the road for the return trip today (September 27), the final day of the Chuseok holiday.

According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 3:00 p.m., the estimated travel times from major cities nationwide to the Seoul Tollgate are 6 hours from Busan, 4 hours and 10 minutes from Gwangju, 5 hours and 40 minutes from Ulsan, 3 hours from Gangneung, and 2 hours and 20 minutes from Daejeon.

The corporation expects highway traffic congestion for those returning to Seoul to peak between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., and gradually ease around 10:00 p.m.

The Korea Expressway Corporation projected total traffic volume for the day at approximately 5.24 million vehicles, which is lower than yesterday.

With 370,000 vehicles moving from the capital area to provincial regions and 490,000 vehicles moving from provincial regions to the capital area, traffic is expected to be heavily concentrated in the direction of Seoul.

Meanwhile, traffic in the direction of provincial regions is expected to flow relatively smoothly with fewer vehicles.

The highway toll exemption for this holiday will remain in effect until today.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.