Korea Expressway Corporation to offer detailed traffic forecasts for Chuseok holiday

Korea Expressway Corporation said Tuesday it will offer significantly more detailed expressway traffic forecast information for the 2026 Chuseok holiday to help drivers traveling to and from their hometowns.

The previous system provided only peak congestion windows and maximum travel times between major cities, but the revamped service allows users to check estimated travel times between key cities by date and time slot at a glance. The improvement draws on historical data from periods with similar conditions — including projected traffic volume, whether the day was a public holiday, and weather — to calculate average speeds for each road segment with greater precision. The information is available through the "congestion forecast traffic map" menu on Korea Expressway Corporation's Road Plus website and its Highway Traffic Information app.

In addition, the corporation plans to ease traffic concentration on specific routes by providing real-time comparisons of estimated travel times for different routes between major cities via variable message signs and mobile text alerts, allowing drivers to choose the best route while already on the road.

However, the travel times shown in the app are measured between tollgates, so drivers should separately account for the time needed to reach the entry tollgate from their starting point and to travel from the exit tollgate to their final destination. The corporation plans to gradually expand detailed travel time information across all routes by strengthening cooperation with private platforms such as Naver and Kakao.

"This year's Chuseok holiday is short, so severe congestion from concentrated traffic is expected," a Korea Expressway Corporation official said. "We ask drivers to check the congestion forecast traffic map before departing and to avoid peak hours." The official added that in the event of an accident or breakdown on the expressway, drivers should turn on their hazard lights, open the trunk, evacuate to a safe location beyond the guardrail and contact the call center promptly.

Meanwhile, tolls will be waived for all vehicles on both publicly and privately operated expressways managed by Korea Expressway Corporation for four days, from midnight Thursday through midnight Sunday. Any vehicle that passes through an expressway at any point during that period will be eligible for the toll exemption — regardless of entry or exit times — as part of efforts to ease the travel costs of holiday travelers.