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Chuseok Traffic Less Congested Due to Coronavirus

Staff bar the seating area in an expressway rest stop in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province on Monday. /Yonhap

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Traffic congestion on freeways that heralds the annual Chuseok migration is expected to start on Tuesday afternoon.

Korea Expressway Corporation said Monday that southbound traffic exiting Seoul towards Busan and Muan, South Jeolla Province will start jamming between 11 a.m. and noon and peak between 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport estimates that it will take eight hours and 20 minutes to get from Seoul to Busan, four hours and 50 minutes from Seoul to Daejeon and five hours and 20 minutes to Gangneung, Gangwon Province.

The estimated trip length the other way around is seven hours and 50 minutes from Busan to Seoul, three hours and 50 minutes from Daejeon and four hours and 20 minutes from Gangneung.

That is still about an hour less than in previous years because many people will heed the government's pleas not to travel amid the coronavirus epidemic.

As part of precautions, restaurants in freeway rest areas can only serve takeout food until Oct. 4. Travelers will have to undergo a temperature check at public restrooms and fill in a log book. 

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