Traffic was backing up heavily on many expressways across the country Saturday and is expected to ease at around 8 p.m., on the first day of the Chuseok holiday.

Chuseok, which falls on Tuesday this year, is the Korean autumn harvest celebration during which people head to their hometowns to get together with family members and relatives and visit their ancestors' graves.

The Chuseok break runs for five days from Saturday to Wednesday.

According to the Korea Expressway Corp., major highways were jammed with vehicles Saturday.

As of 9 a.m., the estimated travel time to Seoul was 7 hours and 10 minutes from the southeastern port city of Busan, about 6 hours and 10 minutes from the southeastern city of Daegu, and 3 hours and 40 minutes from the central city of Daejeon.

The road congestion likely peaked at around 11 a.m. and is expected to ease at around 8 p.m., according to the agency.

Some 420,000 vehicles are expected to hit the road traveling from the greater Seoul area to the provinces, as well as another 430,000 heading from the provinces to the greater Seoul region, on Saturday alone, it added. (Yonhap)