As the Lunar New Year holiday approaches, traffic on the 24th is expected to be congested with returning home and traveling vehicles, but significant gridlock has not yet occurred.
Korea Expressway Corporation explained that the nationwide highway traffic is expected to reach 5.7 million vehicles that day. It forecasted that 460,000 vehicles will leave the capital region for the provinces, while 450,000 vehicles will enter the capital region from the provinces.
Starting the following day, returning home traffic will intensify, and on that day, Korea Expressway Corporation predicted that the traffic heading toward the provinces will be most congested around 7 to 8 p.m. However, by 8 to 9 p.m., the gridlock began to ease, and by 10 p.m., no significant congestion was observed on the Gyeongbu Expressway or the Yangyang Expressway.
As of 11 p.m. at toll booths, the estimated travel times between major cities when using passenger cars are as follows: southbound from Seoul to Busan 4 hours 30 minutes, Seoul to Daegu 3 hours 20 minutes, Seoul to Gwangju 3 hours 20 minutes, Seoul to Daejeon 1 hour 30 minutes, Seoul to Gangneung 2 hours 40 minutes, Seoul to Ulsan 4 hours 20 minutes, and Seoul to Mokpo 3 hours 53 minutes. Northbound from Busan to Seoul 4 hours 30 minutes, Daegu to Seoul 3 hours 20 minutes, Gwangju to Seoul 3 hours 20 minutes, Daejeon to Seoul 1 hour 30 minutes, Gangneung to Seoul 2 hours 40 minutes, Ulsan to Seoul 4 hours 20 minutes, and Mokpo to Seoul 3 hours 40 minutes.
The next day's nationwide highway traffic is expected to reach 5.05 million vehicles. It is projected that 460,000 vehicles will leave the capital region for the provinces, while 360,000 vehicles will enter the capital region from the provinces.
Meanwhile, at around 6:07 p.m. that day, four buses were involved in a rear-end collision near the Jukjeon Rest Area on the Gyeongbu Expressway heading toward Seoul in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province. According to the fire authority, three commuter buses and one express bus were involved in the accident, resulting in injuries to 13 individuals, including the bus drivers and passengers, who were transported to nearby hospitals.