On the first day of the Chuseok holiday, the 24th, severe traffic congestion occurred on highways nationwide as commuters flooded the roads during the morning return-to-hometown rush.
According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 9 a.m. on the day, the estimated travel times from Seoul tollgates to major cities were as follows: Busan, 9 hours and 30 minutes; Mokpo, 9 hours and 20 minutes; Ulsan, 9 hours and 10 minutes; Daegu, 8 hours and 30 minutes; Gwangju, 8 hours and 30 minutes; Gangneung, 7 hours; and Daejeon, 5 hours and 20 minutes.
Conversely, travel times from each city to Seoul were estimated as follows: Busan, 6 hours and 30 minutes; Mokpo, 3 hours and 40 minutes; Ulsan, 6 hours and 10 minutes; Daegu, 5 hours and 30 minutes; Gwangju, 4 hours and 10 minutes; Gangneung, 2 hours and 40 minutes; and Daejeon, 2 hours and 20 minutes.
On the Gyeongbu Expressway’s Busan-bound direction, traffic slowed between Singal Junction and Suwon (3 km), near Giheung Service Area to Nami Junction (90 km), and near Namcheongju to Biryong Junction (24 km).
On the Jungbu Expressway’s Nami-bound direction, traffic crawled between Hanam Junction and Gyeonggi-Gwangju Junction (22 km), near Icheon Service Area to Hobeop Junction (4 km), near Hobeop Junction to Namicheon IC (8 km), near Iljuk to Samsung Hi-Pass IC (5 km), near Daeso Junction to Jincheon Tunnel (18 km), and near Ochang to Nami Junction (14 km).
The Korea Expressway Corporation predicted that the congestion, which began the day before, would peak between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on the day. It anticipated the congestion to ease around 8–9 p.m.
For the return trip to Seoul, congestion was expected to start around 8–9 a.m., peak between noon and 1 p.m., and clear around 6–7 p.m.
The nationwide traffic volume on the day was projected to reach approximately 6.16 million vehicles. The corporation estimated that 510,000 vehicles would travel from the capital region to provinces, and 380,000 vehicles would move from provinces to the capital region.
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