SEOUL, February 16 (AJP) - South Korea's expressways experienced heavy congestion on Monday morning as travelers headed to their hometowns ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
As of 8 a.m., travel time from Seoul to major cities reached 6 hours and 20 minutes to Busan, 6 hours to Ulsan, 5 hours and 20 minutes to Daegu, 4 hours and 40 minutes to Mokpo, 4 hours and 20 minutes to Gwangju, 3 hours and 10 minutes to Gangneung, and 2 hours and 20 minutes to Daejeon, according to the Korea Expressway Corporation.
Return trips to Seoul took 5 hours and 30 minutes from Busan, 5 hours and 10 minutes from Ulsan, 4 hours and 30 minutes from Daegu, 3 hours and 50 minutes from both Mokpo and Gwangju, 2 hours and 40 minutes from Gangneung, and 1 hour and 50 minutes from Daejeon.
While travel times from Seoul to provincial cities remained similar to Sunday or slightly decreased, return trips to the capital took 10 to 30 minutes longer depending on the destination.
Major bottlenecks formed on the Gyeongbu Expressway heading to Busan, with congestion stretching 6 kilometers near Manghyang Rest Area to Cheonan Junction, 11 kilometers from Cheonan Junction to Cheonan Hodu Rest Area, and 17 kilometers from Oksan Junction to Cheongju Junction.
On the Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway toward Changwon, traffic slowed along a 10-kilometer stretch from Yeoju Junction to Gamgok.
The corporation projected 5.05 million vehicles would travel nationwide on Monday, with 410,000 vehicles moving from the Seoul metropolitan area to the provinces and the same number in the opposite direction.
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