Overview

• By 9 a.m. Thursday, estimated drives to the Seoul Tollgate reached 6 hours 40 minutes from Busan, 5 hours 40 minutes from Mokpo, 5 hours 30 minutes from Ulsan, and 4 hours 50 minutes from Daegu.
• Traffic to Seoul was also timed at 4 hours 10 minutes from Gwangju, 3 hours from Gangneung, 2 hours from Yangyang, and 1 hour 50 minutes from Daejeon.
• The Korea Expressway Corporation projected inbound congestion to peak between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. and to ease around 10 p.m., with the Yeongdong and Seohaean expressways likely to be the most burdened.
• Specific slowdowns included backups toward Seoul on the Gyeongbu Expressway near the Seocho Interchange (about 2.5 km) and Banpo Interchange (about 1.8 km), and a 6.5 km crawl on the Seohaean toward Mokpo between Seopyeongtaek Junction and Seopyeongtaek Interchange.
• Nationwide traffic for Thursday was forecast at 5.13 million vehicles, including about 400,000 leaving the Seoul metro area and 390,000 heading in, while most other highway sections were reported relatively clear.