On the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the 30th, traffic congestion is occurring in various places on major highways across the country due to the last-minute return flow.

On the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, vehicles along the Gyeongbu Expressway in the direction of the Seoul Seocho District Jamwon IC (left) and the opposite direction are moving slowly. The Korea Road Traffic Authority projects that on this day, 400,000 vehicles move from the metropolitan area to the provinces and 430,000 from the provinces to the metropolitan area, estimating a total of 5.25 million vehicles to travel nationwide. Traffic in the direction of returning home is expected to start congestion around 7-8 AM and peak around 12-1 PM, while traffic in the direction of returning to the capital is expected to begin around 8-9 AM and reach its maximum around 5-6 PM. /Courtesy of News1

According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 6 p.m. on this day, the estimated travel times for passenger vehicles from tollgates in major cities to Seoul are 5 hours 10 minutes from Busan, 5 hours from Ulsan, 5 hours 20 minutes from Gwangju, 4 hours 40 minutes from Daegu, 3 hours 50 minutes from Gangneung, and 3 hours from Daejeon.

Conversely, the travel times from Seoul to each city are 4 hours 30 minutes to Busan, 4 hours 20 minutes to Ulsan, 3 hours 20 minutes to Gwangju, 3 hours 30 minutes to Daegu, 2 hours 40 minutes to Gangneung, and 1 hour 40 minutes to Daejeon.

On the Gyeongbu Expressway towards Seoul, traffic congestion is occurring in sections such as 10 km from Yeongdong to Yeongdong 1 Tunnel, 15 km near Cheongju to Cheongju Rest Area, 7 km from Ipjang Rest Area to Anseong, and 5 km near Yangjae to Banpo. In the direction of Busan, vehicles are unable to maintain speed in sections such as 7 km near Eonyang Junction.

On the West Coast Expressway towards Seoul, traffic is slow in sections such as 15 km from Donggunsan to Dongsuhcheon Junction, 7 km near Dangjin to Seohae Bridge, and 9 km near Seopyeongtaek Junction to Hwaseong Rest Area.

On the Yeongdong Expressway towards Incheon, vehicles are congested in sections such as 8 km from Hoengseong Rest Area to Saemal and 6 km near Yangji to Yangji Tunnel.

The expressway corporation expected that the traffic congestion, which started around 8 to 9 a.m., would peak around 5 to 6 p.m. It projected that the congestion would be resolved around 11 p.m. to midnight.

On this day, 430,000 vehicles are expected to move from local regions to the metropolitan area, while 400,000 vehicles will travel from the metropolitan area to local regions, resulting in a total of 5.25 million vehicles moving across the nation.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport advised, "The risk of road icing is very high, so please be cautious about safety by reducing speed and maintaining distance between vehicles when driving."