On Sunday, the second day of the 10-day Chuseok holiday, expressways across the nation continued to become congested as more travelers hit the road.

The Korea Expressway Corporation said that as of 9 a.m., the travel time on the 428-kilometer-long expressway between Seoul and the southeastern port city Busan is expected to be 4 hours and 20 minutes. It is expected to take 1 hour and 50 minutes from Seoul to Daejeon, and 3 hours and 10 minutes from Seoul to Gwangju. 

The KEC said congestion started on major expressways from 8 to 9 a.m. and is expected to peak between 5 and 6 p.m. and ease around midnight.

According to the authorities, the country’s notorious holiday traffic is expected to be lighter this year due to Chuseok being stretched out over a record 10 days. With the government designating Monday a national holiday, this year’s Chuseok holiday stretches from Saturday to Oct. 9. 

Still, huge numbers of vehicles are expected to travel across the country. 

On Sunday alone, 4.5 million vehicles are forecast to leave Seoul while 3.8 million are to enter the capital city, the authorities said. All expressways across South Korea will be toll-free for three days from Tuesday, a day before Chuseok.

Korea’s main gateway also saw the highest number of travelers to date.

Officials at Incheon International Airport said almost 2 million Koreans are expected to travel abroad during the Chuseok holidays. A daily average of 177,000 people left the country since the holiday kicked off on Friday, about 10 percent more people than the last year. 

To prepare for the higher-than-average influx, the airport has taken measures to make the process smoother, such as opening up the departure gates at 6 a.m., 30 minutes earlier than usual, to accommodate more passengers in the early morning flights.

During the Chuseok holiday, the first subway coming from Seoul Station to the airport will also start running 30 minutes earlier than usual at 4:50 a.m.

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)