Hundreds of cars formed a 4km line in front of the southern entrance of the Hsuehshan Tunnel yesterday afternoon as the four-day Mid-Autumn Festival holidays came to an end.
The line went all the way from the tunnel's south-end entrance, the Toucheng (
Traffic on the northbound lanes near the Shiding (
Traffic on the Sun Yat-Sen Freeway (National Freeway No. 1) and the Formosa Freeway (National Freeway No.3), on the other hand, was relatively smooth by comparison.
Northbound traffic on the two freeways started to increase around noon. Between 2pm and 4pm yesterday, minor congestion occurred between Yangmei (
On National Freeway No.3, traffic was slow between the Paoshan (寶山) and the Chulin (竹林) interchanges.
Kang Jhy-fu (康志福), director of the traffic management department at the Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau, estimated that traffic volume yesterday reached approximately 1.9 million, the lowest for all four holidays.
"A majority of motorists chose to return on Monday to avoid traffic jams on the freeway," he said.
Slow traffic was also seen on the Suhua Highway (Provincial Highway No.9), as landslides had damaged the road between landmarks 146km and 147km. As the Directorate General of Highways has yet to repair the roads near the 147km marker, two-way traffic could only proceed on a single lane.
In related news, flights leaving for Taiwan from Kinmen were packed with passengers yesterday. In addition to the 64 scheduled flights, 10 flights were added to the schedule.
Some airlines have volunteered to add more flights this morning.
Taiwan Railway Administration (TRA) stations were filled with returning passengers. On average, each train was delayed by 5 to 10 minutes.
The TRA said yesterday that it has increased its daily capacity by about 24 percent to accommodate the passengers' needs during the four-day holiday.
The administration further estimated that it has helped facilitate the transportation of approximately 1.55 million homebound travelers.
Yesterday, tickets for all the northbound express trains were sold out.
Starting today, the administration will start taking requests for tickets for Double Ten Day, or National Day.
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