Expressway traffic congestion persists on 2nd day of extended Chuseok holiday in S. Korea

Major expressways across South Korea remained congested with heavy traffic Friday as drivers hit the road to spend the Chuseok holiday with their families or began their journey back home, Yonhap reports. 

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 extended 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 afternoon as long queues built up on many sections of southbound lanes on major expressways.

As of 5 p.m., the estimated journey time from Seoul to the southeastern port city of Busan was six hours, four hours and 33 minutes to the southeastern city of Ulsan and four hours and 30 minutes to the southwestern city of Gwangju.

Highways both southbound and northbound became extremely heavy with traffic later in the day as many drivers traveled to pay visits to their ancestors' graves on the day of Chuseok or embarked on journeys back home, according to Korea Expressway.

Hometown-bound journeys are expected to peak between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. while return journeys may reach their peak between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Saturday, the traffic agency said.

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