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| The Gyeongbu Highway near Jamwon in Seoul is packed with cars leaving the city for the Lunar New Year long weekend. Yonhap |
This year's extended Lunar New Year holiday runs from Saturday through Tuesday, with the nation celebrating its first such holiday without social distancing restrictions since the outbreak of COVID-19 three years ago.
According to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC), some sections of the Gyeongbu Expressway, which links Seoul to the southeastern port city of Busan, were hit by traffic jams.
The KEC estimated around 5.15 million vehicles will hit the road nationwide Saturday, traveling from the greater Seoul area to the provinces and vice versa.
Outbound traffic from Seoul is expected to ease at around 8-9 p.m., it said.
As of 5 p.m., the expected travel time was 4 hours and 40 minutes from Seoul to Busan, 3 hours and 30 minutes from Seoul to the southwestern city of Gwangju, and 4 hours and 10 minutes from Seoul to the southeastern city of Daegu, according to the KEC. (Yonhap)
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