With homebound travelers streaming back on Seollal on the 17th, traffic congestion continues on expressways.
According to the Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC), driving a passenger car to Seoul from major cities nationwide is expected to take longer than usual. As of 7 p.m. that day, the trip from Busan to Seoul was expected to take 6 hours 20 minutes. ▲ Ulsan 6 hours ▲ Gwangju 6 hours ▲ Daegu 5 hours 20 minutes ▲ Daejeon 4 hours 10 minutes ▲ Gangneung 3 hours 10 minutes.
Traffic jams are relatively light in the outbound direction. Starting at the Seoul tollgate, the trip to Busan was analyzed to take 4 hours 30 minutes. ▲ Ulsan 4 hours 10 minutes ▲ Gwangju 3 hours 40 minutes ▲ Daegu 3 hours 30 minutes ▲ Daejeon 1 hour 30 minutes ▲ Gangneung 2 hours 40 minutes.
The Korea Expressway Corporation (KEC) predicted that congestion in the homebound direction would ease around 8–9 p.m. Congestion in the return-to-Seoul direction was expected to clear around 3–4 a.m. on the 18th. Nationwide traffic volume that day was forecast at 6.15 million vehicles, more than 1 million above the previous day's 5.05 million. Of these, about 440,000 vehicles were expected to move from the capital region to the provinces, and 470,000 from the provinces to the capital region.