Highway traffic to build up as people return to Seoul amid Lunar New Year holiday

SEOUL, Traffic on major highways was expected to build up Monday as people were heading back to Seoul on the final day of the four-day Lunar New Year holiday.A drive from Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, to the capital was expected to take about five hours and 40 minutes as of 9 a.m., while driving from Gwangju, 267 km south of the capital, to Seoul was expected to take four hours and 30 minutes, according to the state-run Korea Expressway Corp.The drive in the opposite direction from Seoul to Busan was estimated to take 4 hours and 40 minutes and from the capital to Gwangju to take 3 hours and 20 minutes.Korea Expressway said traffic toward Seoul was expected to start building up at 10-11 a.m., with traffic congestion reaching its peak at about 3-4 p.m., before easing at 11 p.m. to midnight.It estimated 4.2 million cars would hit the road Monday, 950,000 vehicles less than the previous day.Source: Yonhap News Agency