This year’s Chuseok holiday is forecasted to reach peak traffic congestion on both the outbound and inbound journeys around noon on the 17th. For those departing from Seoul to Busan at 11 AM on the 17th, travel times are expected to exceed 9 hours.
Tmap Mobility and SK Telecom announced on the 10th their traffic predictions for this Chuseok based on 6 years of Tmap (TMAP) holiday movement data, excluding the COVID period (2020-2022).
The optimal time to avoid congestion on the outbound journey was identified as the evening of the 13th, just before the holiday. After 8 PM on the 13th, it is expected that travel times on major routes such as Seoul-Busan, Seoul-Gwangju, and Seoul-Daejeon will not exceed 5 hours. Compared to previous years, traffic congestion on the outbound journey on the 14th is predicted to be relatively mild.
Conversely, traffic congestion on the holiday itself, the 17th, is expected to be at its worst during the day. For the Seoul-Busan route, traffic is expected to start congesting from the morning, with an estimated travel time of 9 hours and 15 minutes for those departing at 11 AM. The Seoul-Gwangju route is predicted to take about 7 hours by noon, while the Seoul-Daejeon route will take about 5 hours by 1 PM. Traffic volume is expected to return to normal levels around 6 PM on the 17th.
The traffic volume for the return journey from the 14th to the 16th is expected to remain at normal levels, regardless of the time of day. However, on the 17th, congestion is expected to begin as early as 8 AM, with both outbound and inbound traffic likely to be congested by noon. On that day, the travel time from Busan to Seoul is estimated to be around 8 hours and 30 minutes by 11 AM, and about 7 hours and 30 minutes from Gwangju to Seoul by 10 AM.
The lowest traffic volume during the holiday will likely occur in the early hours of the 18th (midnight to 2 AM). During this time, the Busan-Seoul route is expected to take about 4 hours and 20 minutes, the Gwangju-Seoul route about 3 hours and 30 minutes, and the Daejeon-Seoul route about 2 hours. After that, high traffic congestion is expected on major routes between 10 AM to 1 PM, but conditions are forecasted to return to normal levels starting from 7 PM.
Meanwhile, Tmap Mobility will provide information on bus-only lane enforcement times, highway toll changes, planned road openings, and improvements to affected intersections during the Chuseok holiday period. This data can also be confirmed on the SK Telecom newsroom.
Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr