 |
| ▲ The Gyeongbu Expressway in southern Seoul is packed with vehicles on Feb. 15, 2026. (Yonhap) |
holiday-traffic
Highways congested nationwide on Lunar New Year
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Yonhap) -- Heavy traffic built up on major roads and expressways across South Korea Tuesday as people traveled to their hometowns 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.
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 due to heavy traffic.
Around 6.15 million vehicles were expected to hit the roads nationwide this day, including 440,000 cars leaving the greater Seoul area and 470,000 heading toward Seoul from other regions.
As of 8 a.m., travel times were estimated at five hours from Seoul to the southeastern city of Busan, four hours to the southeastern city of Daegu, and two hours and 10 minutes to the central city of Daejeon, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC).
The KEC reported that outbound traffic from Seoul is expected to peak between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., and begin easing around 8 p.m.
Inbound travel times were relatively longer at six hours and 40 minutes estimated from Busan to Seoul, five hours and 40 minutes from Daegu, and two hours from Daejeon, the KEC said.
Inbound traffic is expected to peak between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. before easing at around 3 a.m. the following morning.
(END)
(C) Yonhap News Agency. All Rights Reserved
