On the morning of the 5th, a day before Chuseok, congestion continued in several sections of major nationwide expressways in the homebound direction.
According to the Korea Expressway Corporation, as of 8 a.m. that day, the time it takes by passenger car to depart from the Seoul Tollgate and reach major cities nationwide was 7 hours 30 minutes to Busan, 7 hours 10 minutes to Ulsan, 6 hours 30 minutes to Gwangju, 6 hours 20 minutes to Daegu, 3 hours 50 minutes to Gangneung, and 3 hours 20 minutes to Daejeon.
The expected travel time from each city to Seoul was 5 hours 40 minutes from Busan, 5 hours 10 minutes from Ulsan, 3 hours 40 minutes from Gwangju, 3 hours 24 minutes from Daegu, 2 hours 40 minutes from Gangneung, and 1 hour 50 minutes from Daejeon.
On the Gyeongbu Expressway toward Busan, traffic was slow for 15 km near Giheung-Dongtan to Namsa, 9 km near Bukcheonan to Cheonan, 12 km from the Cheonan Junction to near the Cheonan Hodu Service Area, 18 km from near the Oksan Junction to the Cheongju Junction, and 2 km from the Daejeon Tunnel to the Biryong Junction.
On the Seohaean Expressway toward Mokpo, vehicles were unable to pick up speed for 12 km from the Maesong Service Area to near the Hwaseong Service Area, 7 km from near the Hwaseong Service Area to near the Seopyeongtaek Junction, and 14 km from the Seopyeongtaek Junction to the Seohae Grand Bridge.
On the Jungbu Expressway toward Nami, vehicles were moving slowly for 8 km from the Hobup Junction to near Namicheon IC, 3 km near the Jincheon Tunnel, and 13 km from Ochang to the Nami Junction.
On the Nonsan-Cheonan Expressway toward Nonsan, congestion was building for 40 km from the Charyeong Tunnel Muhakgyo to the Iin Service Area Bokryonggyo; on the Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway toward Changwon, for 10 km from the Yeoju Junction to near Gamgok; and on the Yeongdong Expressway in the Gangneung section, for 11 km from near the Maseong Tunnel to near the Yangji Tunnel.
The corporation projected that congestion in the homebound direction would begin at 5–6 a.m., peak at noon to 1 p.m., and ease around 8–9 p.m. In the homecoming direction, it was expected to start getting congested at 8–9 a.m., peak at 11 a.m. to noon, and clear around 8–9 p.m.
Nationwide traffic volume that day was forecast at about 5.75 million vehicles. Of these, 470,000 vehicles were expected to move from the Seoul metropolitan area to the provinces, and 460,000 from the provinces to the Seoul metropolitan area.