Congestion expected on roads today

The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau (TANFB, 國道高速公路局) yesterday said that peak traffic hours on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (中山高速公路) will last from around 4pm to 8pm today.

The TANFB said that traffic on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway yesterday was quite smooth except from Keelung (基隆) to Hsichih (汐止), Taipei County; Linkou (林口), Taipei County, to Yangmei (楊梅), Taoyuan County and Changhua (彰化) to Hsiluo (西螺), Yunlin County, where the traffic moved sluggishly all day at average speeds of between 40kph and 50kph.

On the southern part of the freeway, an accident involving three vehicles was reported yesterday morning in the Jiuru (九如) section, Kaohsiung County. The accident also caused a temporary hold-up on southbound lanes, but no injuries were reported.

Officials said that they expected a lot of traffic this afternoon on northbound sections of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway from Yuanlin (員林), Changhua County, to Hsiluo; Yangmei to CKS International Airport (中正機場); the Southern Second Freeway's (南二高) Kukeng (古坑) to Touliu (斗六), Yunlin County; and the Northern Second Freeway's (北二高) section from Lungtan (龍潭) to Tashi (大溪), Taoyuan County.

"We estimate that motorists will experience the heaviest traffic on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway between 4pm and 8pm on Sunday, as most people will be on their way back to work," said Chi Wen-chung (祁文中), chief of the Traffic Management Section of the TANFB.

In addition, the Sun Yat-sen Freeway will remain toll-free from midnight to 6am every day until Apr. 8. Highway patrol officers will close both northbound and southbound entrances and exits in Wangtien (王田), Changhua County, all day today. Also, northbound entrances in Tainan, Anding (安定), Peitou (北斗) and Nantun (南屯), Taichung City, are closed. However, all the exits at these four locations remain open.

Also today, from 7am to 7pm, the northbound shoulder of the section from the Hsiluo Rest Area to the Yuanlin exit will be open to all traffic.

According to statistics provided by the TANFB, around 1,877,000 vehicles traveled on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway during the Tomb-sweeping Festival. No major injury-causing accidents were reported despite the high volume of traffic.

In related news, the Taiwan Railway Administration said yesterday that most tickets for northbound trains today and Monday are already sold out. However, some shuttle trains for short-distance trips are still available.

For those planning to fly, 90 percent of the tickets for domestic flights for today and tomorrow are sold out. Airline officials suggested passengers call to confirm their seats before they leave for the airport, especially for Kinmen flights.

"It is the fog season in Kinmen and that's why the airport is often closed. When the airport is closed, there's nothing much we can do except wait," a senior official from Far East Air Transport Corp (遠東航空) explained.

The airport at Kinmen was closed twice yesterday morning because of heavy fog. It was back in business again at 12:18pm yesterday.