Major highways remain congested on Lunar New Year; traffic expected to ease after evening

Both directions on major highways across Korea remained congested with homecoming and returning vehicles on Lunar New Year on Wednesday, with traffic expected to ease later in the day.

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 afternoon due to heavy traffic.

As of 5 p.m., a drive from Busan to Seoul was expected to take seven hours and 20 minutes, according to the state-run Korea Expressway Corp.

On Wednesday, the fifth day of this year's extended six-day Lunar New Year holiday, known as Seol, an estimated 6.39 million cars were predicted to travel on highways nationwide in both directions to and from the broader capital region, the Korea Expressway Corp. said.

Cars were also at a standstill or moving slowly on sections of other major highways, such as the Namhae and Yeongdong expressways.

Traffic congestion on outbound routes from Seoul is expected to ease between 11 p.m. and midnight while inbound traffic could ease between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. the following day, it added. (Yonhap)