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Today (29th), the first day of the five-day Lunar New Year holiday, the expressway is already slightly clogged. Eating at rest stops is also prohibited as the Omicron mutation is spreading rapidly. We connect reporters who are out at highway tollgates.
Reporter Seonghee Han, please tell us about the current highway situation.
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Yes, it is listed at the Seoul tollgate.
Today, the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday, traffic congestion is starting on the highway on Gwiseong-gil.
It was around 5 am when I arrived here, and the number of vehicles passing through the toll booth has significantly increased compared to an hour ago.
As of 5:00 am, it is expected that it will take 6 hours to Busan, 2 hours 40 minutes to Daejeon, 4 hours 40 minutes to Gwangju, and 3 hours to Gangneung if you depart from Seoul now.
The Korea Expressway Corporation estimates that major highway congestion from Seoul to rural areas will be worst between 11 am and noon.
Today (29th), it seems that the identity will be resolved only in the evening.
The expected nationwide traffic today is 4.76 million vehicles.
This is 1% higher than the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday last year.
The Korea Expressway Corporation estimated that 450,000 vehicles would move from the metropolitan area to the provinces and 370,000 vehicles from the provinces to the metropolitan area.
In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the government will normally collect highway tolls, which were exempted for each holiday, following Chuseok last year and this year's Lunar New Year holidays.
Eating and drinking is difficult at highway rest areas, and you can only pack food.
Temporary screening centers are also operating at seven locations including Anseong Service Area in the direction of Seoul, Yongin Service Area in the direction of Incheon, and Hoengseong Service Area in the direction of Gangneung.