Traffic clogged the nation’s freeways yesterday even though National Freeway Bureau restrictions allowing only vehicles with at least three passengers to travel north on certain freeways between 9am to 3pm were in effect.
The Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau said heavy traffic was seen on northbound lanes of freeways yesterday and that total traffic volume on all freeways yesterday was expected to reach 2.7 million vehicles.
The traffic volume reached 2.83 million vehicles on Tuesday, the bureau said.
It said heavy traffic was seen on southbound lanes between Neili (內壢) and Pingjen (平鎮) on Freeway No. 1 at around 10am, and on northbound lanes on the section near Yuanlin (員林).
The bureau said yesterday and today only vehicles with at least three people would be allowed onto Freeway No. 1 between Kaohsiung and Neili, and onto Freeway No. 3 between Pingtung and Dasi (大溪), adding the measure helps relieve heavy traffic.
To help ease the crush, the bureau also allowed motorists yesterday to drive on the hard shoulders of certain sections of freeways between 7am and 7pm, including the sections between Neili and Jhongli (中壢) on Freeway No. 1, as well as Dasi and Longtan (龍潭) and between Wufong (霧峰) and Jhongtou (中投) on Freeway No. 3.
Meanwhile, a van with nine passengers turned over on the northbound lanes of the Pengshan (彭山) tunnel on Freeway No. 5 yesterday afternoon with three of the passengers slightly injured in the accident.
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