Lunar New Year traffic congestion

[Anchor]

Today (Jan. 25), the first day of the six-day Lunar New Year holiday, traffic on the highways began to get congested around noon.

The congestion gradually eased as the sun set.

Let's connect with our reporter at the Seoul tollgate to find out the situation.

Reporter Bae Ji-hyun, what is the current situation on the highways?

[Report]

Yes, as night falls, the number of vehicles passing through the Seoul tollgate is gradually decreasing.

Earlier, some sections of the highway were congested from around noon, but by evening, most of the congestion has cleared.

Since the holiday period is longer than last year, it seems that the traffic volume on the highways has dispersed, leading to a quicker ease of the road congestion.

Let's take a look at the main traffic situations using the CCTV footage.

First, near the Oksan Rest Area on the Gyeongbu Expressway.

The road towards Busan was congested for a while in the afternoon, but now traffic is flowing smoothly.

Next, near the Yeongju Junction on the Jungbu Inland Line.

This area also experienced severe congestion towards Changwon for some time, but now vehicles are picking up speed.

If you depart from the Seoul tollgate now, it will take about 4 hours and 30 minutes to Busan, 4 hours and 20 minutes to Ulsan, and approximately 3 hours and 20 minutes to Daegu and Gwangju, respectively.

Tomorrow (Jan. 26), it is expected that 4.25 million vehicles will be on the move nationwide.

The Korea Expressway Corporation forecasts that the return traffic will be most congested around noon tomorrow, then to ease around 10 PM.

The road towards Seoul is expected to be most congested around 4 PM tomorrow, then clearing up around 11 PM.

This has been Bae Ji-hyun reporting from the Seoul tollgate for KBS News.