Highways jammed as Chuseok holiday travel begins

Major highways across South Korea were heavily congested Thursday as millions of people hit the road for their hometowns on the first day of the Chuseok holiday, with a morning trip from Seoul to Busan estimated to take as long as some 9 hours.

Traffic was particularly heavy for motorists leaving the greater Seoul area in the morning, before travel times gradually eased in the afternoon, according to the Korea Expressway Corp.

As of 9 a.m., a trip from the Seoul tollgate to Busan was expected to take nine hours and 30 minutes, while journeys to Mokpo and Ulsan were estimated at nine hours and 20 minutes and nine hours and 10 minutes, respectively.

Travel times from Seoul stood at eight hours and 30 minutes each to Daegu and Gwangju, seven hours to Gangneung and five hours and 20 minutes to Daejeon.

By 2 p.m., however, the estimated travel time from Seoul to Busan had fallen to six hours and 40 minutes. Trips to Daegu, Gwangju and Daejeon were expected to take five hours and 40 minutes, five hours and 30 minutes and three hours and 10 minutes, respectively.

Traffic heading toward Seoul was relatively lighter.

As of 2 p.m., reaching the capital was expected to take five hours from Busan, four hours from Daegu, three hours and 20 minutes from Gwangju and two hours and 10 minutes from Daejeon.

Earlier in the day, congestion stretched across long sections of major expressways.

On the southbound Gyeongbu Expressway toward Busan, vehicles were moving slowly along a 3-kilometer section between the Singal Junction area and Suwon, a 90-kilometer stretch between the Giheung Service Area and Nami Junction, and a 24-kilometer section between the Namcheongju area and Biryong Junction as of 9 a.m.

The highway operator estimated that about 6.16 million vehicles would be on roads nationwide Thursday, including some 510,000 leaving the greater Seoul area and 380,000 traveling toward the capital.

This year's Chuseok holiday runs from Thursday through Sunday. Chuseok, one of Korea's biggest traditional holidays, typically prompts a nationwide travel rush as people return to their hometowns for family gatherings and visits to ancestral graves.