Highway traffic to Busan stretches to 7 hours as chuseok exodus begins

Traffic congestion spread across major expressways nationwide Wednesday as holiday travel surged ahead of the chuseok long weekend.

The Korea Expressway Corporation forecast that about 6.13 million vehicles would be on the roads Wednesday, making it busier than a typical Wednesday. An estimated 510,000 vehicles were expected to travel from the Greater Seoul area to regional destinations, while 450,000 were projected to head in the opposite direction.

Inbound congestion toward Seoul was expected to ease around 9 p.m. Travel times from Seoul as of 6 p.m. were estimated at seven hours to Busan, six hours and 20 minutes to Gwangju, six hours and 40 minutes to Mokpo, four hours and 10 minutes to Daejeon, and three hours and 10 minutes to Gangneung.

Outbound congestion toward regional destinations was expected to continue through Thursday. Roads heading out of Seoul began backing up around 6 to 7 a.m., while inbound lanes toward Seoul started congesting around 7 to 8 a.m., with both directions hitting peak congestion between 6 and 7 p.m. as commuter and holiday traffic merged.