▲ The Gyeongbu Expressway in southern Seoul is packed with vehicles on Feb. 15, 2026. (Yonhap)

(LEAD) holiday-traffic

(LEAD) Highways congested nationwide on Lunar New Year

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with latest)

SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- Traffic was heavy on highways nationwide on Tuesday afternoon as streams of vehicles headed back home on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The nation marks the major holiday, known as Seol, on Tuesday, with the holiday period beginning over the weekend and running through Wednesday.

As of 5 p.m., travel times were estimated at seven hours to Seoul from the southeastern city of Busan, six hours from the southeastern city of Daegu and four hours from the eastern city of Gangneung, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC).

The KEC forecast that congestion in the outbound direction -- from the capital region to provincial areas -- would ease around 8 to 9 p.m., while return traffic toward Seoul is expected to clear around 3 to 4 a.m. the following morning.

Nationwide traffic volume for the day was projected at around 6.15 million vehicles, larger than the previous day's 5.05 million, which include 440,000 cars leaving the greater Seoul area and 470,000 heading toward Seoul from other regions.

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