Final Day of Hangul Day Holiday: 'Battle to Return to Seoul'... Traffic to Peak at 4-5 p.m.

400,000 Vehicles to Travel from Other Regions Toward Seoul

On Oct. 11, the final day of the three-day Hangul Day holiday, severe congestion is expected on highways heading toward Seoul as large numbers of vehicles returning from the holiday converge on the roads.

Traffic was backed up on the southbound Gyeongbu Expressway near Jamwon IC in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 25th. Yonhap News.

According to highway traffic information on Oct. 11, an estimated 400,000 vehicles will travel from other regions to the Seoul metropolitan area, while 360,000 will travel from the Seoul metropolitan area to other regions. With holidaymakers returning home in large numbers toward the end of the break, severe congestion is expected, particularly on roads heading toward Seoul.

Congestion on highways heading toward Seoul is expected to begin between 11 a.m. and noon and peak between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Traffic, which is expected to gradually ease after that, is forecast to clear between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

As of 9 a.m., the Korea Expressway Corporation estimated that travel by passenger car from major cities across the country to the Seoul Tollgate would take 4 hours 50 minutes from Busan, 4 hours 30 minutes from Ulsan, 3 hours 50 minutes from Daegu, 4 hours from Mokpo, 3 hours 20 minutes from Gwangju, 2 hours 40 minutes from Gangneung, and 1 hour 40 minutes from Daejeon. In the opposite direction, travel from Seoul to those cities is expected to take 5 hours to Busan, 4 hours 40 minutes to Ulsan, 4 hours to Daegu, 3 hours 40 minutes to Mokpo, 3 hours 20 minutes to Gwangju, and 1 hour 40 minutes to Daejeon.

However, as the clock passes 10 a.m., congestion on routes back to Seoul is expected to worsen, adding between 10 and 50 minutes to the travel times from each city to Seoul compared with the estimates released at 9 a.m.

Meanwhile, major roads in Seoul were generally flowing smoothly as of 9 a.m. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government's traffic information system, there has been little sign of congestion on most major roads, including the Olympic Expressway, Gangbyeon Expressway, and Naebu Expressway, which connect the eastern and western parts of Seoul, as well as the eastern and western beltways and the Gangnam Beltway.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.