Holiday travelers jam roads, pack airports

Waves of people trying to beat the northbound traffic on their way home before the week-long Lunar New Year holidays ends tomorrow packed the nation's highways yesterday, the National Freeway Bureau said.

The bureau said 1.83 million vehicles hit the roads before 5pm yesterday, more than twice the normal traffic volume, while the whole day's numbers were estimated to break 2.8 million, an all-time high.

The most congested highway was the Chiang Wei-shui Freeway connecting Taipei and Ilan via the Hsuehshan Tunnel (雪山隧道), where the average traffic speed was 9kph, the bureau said.

In the west, traffic passing through Chiayi (嘉義), Touliou (斗六) and Dounan (斗南) in Yunlin County, as well as Hsinchu (新竹), was also very slow, with an average speed of 30kph northbound, the bureau said.

The bureau expected northbound traffic to worsen after 5pm.

While all northbound traffic was heavily congested with vehicles moving as slow as 20kph to 30kph, travel south was relatively smooth, sailing along at 80kph to 90kph, the bureau said.

Flights between Taiwan and Kinmen were equally crammed, the Central News Agency said.

Though Kinmen's Shang Yi Airport began service at 7am yesterday, lines started to form at 4am, the report said.

"As of 11:30am, there were more than 400 travelers on the waiting list, nearly 300 of whom were trying to get to Taipei, with only 60 people having obtained seats," the report said.

The National Police Agency said that to accommodate the amount of people traveling, all police stations around the nation would be open to the public who wish to use the bathroom.

Some local police stations have even placed rented portable bathrooms along the highways for those stuck in traffic, the agency said.

Today being the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday, the final wave of traffic is expected to line the highways, the bureau said.

Toll collection will be suspended in both directions from midnight to 6am, while some northbound entrances will be closed, including Tainan, Puyan (埔鹽), and Jhongli (中壢) on the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (No.1) and Dashi (大溪) on Freeway No.3, the bureau said.

In addition, tourists are prohibited from entering the Hohuanshan (合歡山) area until tomorrow at 6am because of icy roads, it said.

Early birds can dodge some of the congestion and save time if they start their journeys at the crack of dawn, suggested Taipei resident Nicolas Wu (吳欣源), who started his drive from Tainan City early yesterday morning and arrived in Taipei in just three hours.

"My car was going quite smoothly without any hold ups," he said. "However, I suggest that those who wish to start their trips early drive more carefully, as the roads are slippery and wet."

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA