As the country begins a long break ahead of the Chuseok holiday, traffic snarls have already started on highways across the country Friday, and the authorities have declared a special traffic control period until October 12.

The Korea Expressway Corporation forecasts total holiday road traffic at 59-point-62 million vehicles, with an average of five-point-42 million per day and a peak of six-point-67 million on Monday, which is Chuseok Day.

Starting from Seoul at 5 p.m., driving distance to Busan was estimated at four hours and 50 minutes, while it would take three and a half hours to drive to the southwestern city of Gwangju, and two hours and 40 minutes to reach Gangneung on the east coast.

Driving distance from Seoul is usually about four or five hours for Busan, four hours for Gwangju, and two and a half hours for Gangneung.

Outbound traffic was expected to die down Friday evening but reach its worst levels Sunday and Monday.