Chuseok Travelers Should Avoid Roads Before Thursday Afternoon

Published on 2019/09/10 | Source

/Newsis

Travelers will find it most convenient to take to the road after 4 p.m. Thursday as Chuseok starts, analysis of traffic flows by SK Telecom's smartphone navigation app T map suggests.

It will take homebound travelers five hours and 10 minutes to travel from Seoul to Busan if they start at 9 a.m. Wednesday, but four hours and 40 minutes if they leave at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Heavy congestion is expected between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Travel between Seoul and Busan will take more than seven hours during that time, and between Seoul and Gwangju more than six hours.

This is because many workers will highly likely clock off work early on Wednesday or leave Seoul on early Thursday morning to travel to their ancestral hometowns.

The worst Chuseok traffic is expected on the day itself, which is Friday, because many travelers will already be heading back to Seoul after holding traditional rituals in the morning, while others visit their ancestors' tombs and holidaymakers go for outings.

The return journey will take eight hours and 50 minutes from Busan to Seoul, and eight hours and 20 minutes from Seoul to Busan on Friday. But on Saturday it will take only up to six hours to travel from Busan to Seoul and up to four hours from Gwangju to Seoul.