According to the Korea Expressway Corp., travel times to Seoul as of noon had lengthened sharply, with trips from Busan taking up to 10 hours, Ulsan 9 hours and 40 minutes, Daegu 9 hours, Mokpo 9 hours and 20 minutes, Gwangju 8 hours and 50 minutes, and Daejeon 4 hours and 40 minutes.
Return trips were running two to three hours longer than estimates made earlier in the morning.
Southbound traffic from Seoul was comparatively lighter but still slowed, with travel times of about 7 hours to Busan, 6 hours and 40 minutes to Ulsan, 6 hours to Daegu, 4 hours and 40 minutes to Mokpo, 4 hours and 30 minutes to Gwangju, 3 hours and 10 minutes to Gangneung, and 3 hours and 10 minutes to Daejeon.
Major bottlenecks were reported on the Gyeongbu Expressway toward Seoul, including sections near Yangsan Junction, Geumho Junction, Daejeon–Jukam Service Area, Cheongju, and Cheonan–Anseong, where traffic moved at a crawl.
Congestion was also seen in the Busan-bound lanes near Singal Junction, Manghyang Service Area, and parts of Daejeon.
On the Seohaean Expressway, slowdowns were reported in multiple stretches toward both Seoul and Mokpo, while the Jungbu Naeryuk Expressway also experienced heavy congestion on northbound sections.
The expressway operator forecast that about 6.15 million vehicles would be on the roads nationwide on Tuesday, more than 1 million higher than the previous day.
An estimated 470,000 vehicles were expected to travel from regional areas to the capital region, while about 440,000 were heading in the opposite direction.
Traffic congestion on return routes was projected to peak between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. and ease gradually from around 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. the following day. Outbound traffic was expected to be heaviest between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m., with conditions improving after 8 p.m.
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