Highways jammed as people return home after Chuseok holiday

Cars are stuck in traffic on the Gyeongbu Expressway in Seoul on the sixth and penultimate day of the extended Chuseok holiday, Wednesday. Yonhap

Major expressways nationwide were congested Thursday as people returned home on the final day of the extended Chuseok holiday.

This year's weeklong extended holiday runs through Thursday, as Chuseok, which fell on Monday this year, connects with two national holidays — National Foundation Day on Oct. 3 and Hangeul Day on Oct. 9, which marks the creation of the Korean alphabet.

As of 9 a.m., travel times to Seoul were estimated at 6 hours and 40 minutes from the southeastern city of Busan, 4 hours and 10 minutes from the southwestern city of Gwangju, and three hours from the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC).

The KEC said inbound traffic will peak at around 4 to 5 p.m. and begin easing at 10 p.m.

A total of 5.13 million vehicles were forecast to move across the country Thursday, including 400,000 leaving the Seoul metropolitan area for other provinces and 390,000 heading toward Seoul from other regions.