Expressway traffic congestion persists on 2nd day of extended Chuseok holiday

Major expressways across South Korea remained congested with heavy traffic Friday morning as many drivers hit the road to spend the Chuseok holiday with their families.

Chuseok, which falls on Friday this year, is the Korean autumn harvest celebration during which people reunite with family members and relatives and visit ancestors' graves. This year's Chuseok holiday runs from Thursday to Tuesday.

According to Korea Expressway Corp., the estimated journey times from Seoul to major cities remained longer than normal as of Friday morning as long queues built up on many sections of southbound lanes on major expressways.

As of 8 a.m., the estimated journey time from Seoul to the southern port city of Busan was seven hours and 20 minutes, six hours and 11 minutes to the southeastern city of Ulsan and five hours and 10 minutes to the southwestern city of Gwangju.

Korea Expressway said highways both southbound and northbound may become extremely heavy with traffic later in the day as many drivers are expected to hit the road to pay visits to ancestors' graves on the day of Chuseok or embark on journeys back home.

Hometown-bound journeys are expected to peak between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. while return journeys may reach their peak between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m., according to Korea Expressway.

Nearly 6.3 million vehicles were expected to hit the road on Friday. (Yonhap)