Despite an old saying that the third day of the Lunar New Year is a day for sleeping in, yesterday’s record-high traffic volume suggested that most people ditched the tradition and went out to take advantage of the good weather.
The National Freeway Bureau said that total traffic volume on the nation’s highways was expected to reach a record 3.3 million vehicles yesterday, due to the large number of people flocking to tourist attractions or traveling home.
Bureau statistics showed that as of 12pm, 1.27 million cars had taken to the highways, an increase of about 50,000 vehicles from the same period last year.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Congestion was seen on the southbound lanes of the National Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) between Jhongli (中壢) and Hukou (湖口) and between the Changhua (彰化) and Puyan (埔鹽) interchange system, as well as on the northbound lanes between Siluo (西螺) and Yuanlin (員林) and between Taichung and Fongyuan (豐原).
Traffic jams were also reported on the Formosa Freeway’s (Freeway No. 3) southbound lanes between Tucheng (土城) and Sanying (三鶯), between Dasi (大溪) and Longtan (龍潭), and between Kuaiguan (快官) and Jhongsing (中興); the Chiang Wei-shui Memorial Freeway’s (Freeway No. 5) southbound lanes between Shihding (石碇) and Pinglin (坪林); as well as Freeway No. 10’s eastbound lanes between the Renwu (仁武) and Yanchao (燕巢) interchange system.
Driving speed on some sections of the highways was reduced to only 20kph.
According to the National Highway Police Bureau’s Eighth Division, many rest and service areas along the southern part of Freeway No. 3 were inundated with travelers, with traffic gridlocks being reported on the roads heading into Tainan’s Guanzihling (關子嶺) and Chiayi’s Alishan (阿里山).
Heavy traffic was also reported in areas near the new Chimei Museum in Tainan, which reopened to the public on Thursday after being closed for two days.
Museum authorities said that while entry into the museum was limited to 5,000 visitors per day, an estimated 30,000 people crowded into the outdoor area of the European-style museum to take pictures each day for the past two days.
To ease traffic congestion, the National Freeway Bureau said it opened up some shoulders on freeways and activated the meters on the ramps.
It also implemented high occupancy controls from 9am to 3pm on Freeway No. 1’s northbound lanes between Kaohsiung and Neili (內壢) and Freeway No. 3’s northbound lanes between Jiouru (九如) and Dasi (大溪), limiting road use to vehicles with more than three passengers.
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