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| ▲ The Gyeongbu Expressway in southern Seoul is packed with vehicles on Feb. 13, 2026. (Yonhap) |
holiday-traffic
Highways jammed as people return home on final day of Lunar New Year holiday
SEOUL, Feb. 18 (Yonhap) -- Major expressways nationwide were congested Wednesday, as people returned home on the final day of the Lunar New Year holiday.
The nation marked the major holiday, known as Seol, the previous day, with the holiday period beginning over the weekend and running through Wednesday.
On some sections of the Gyeongbu Expressway, which links Seoul to the southeastern city of Busan through major cities, cars were often at a standstill as of Wednesday morning due to heavy traffic.
As of 8 a.m., travel times to Seoul were estimated at 5 hours and 20 minutes from Busan, 4 hours and 20 minutes from the southeastern city of Daegu, and 2 hours and 20 minutes from the central city of Daejeon, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC).
The KEC said inbound traffic was expected to peak at around 3 to 4 p.m. and begin easing at 11 p.m.
A total of 4.85 million vehicles were forecast to move across the country Wednesday, including 350,000 leaving the Seoul metropolitan area for other provinces and 490,000 heading toward Seoul from other regions.
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