Moderate traffic was reported in northern Taiwan on the second day of the three-day International Workers’ Day holiday, with small crowds at some tourist markets, the National Freeway Bureau said yesterday.
Increased traffic was seen in the morning in Taipei, New Taipei City, Yilan and Taoyuan, according to the bureau’s online traffic service.
In western Taiwan, congestion was reported on the southbound lanes of the Formosa Freeway (Freeway No. 3) near Yingge (鶯歌) in New Taipei City and on the southbound lanes of the Sun Yat-sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1) near Taoyuan’s Pingjhen District (平鎮).
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
The Freeway 1968 Web site, which is linked to the traffic system to project where people are headed, showed that not many people were traveling to the 200 most popular tourist spots in Taiwan, except for some traditional markets.
At 4:30pm, the Web site showed a “yellow” indicator for places near Dasi Old Street (大溪老街) and Jhuwei Fishing Port (竹圍漁港) in Taoyuan, Tamsui Old Street (淡水老街) in New Taipei City and Wuchih Mountain (五指山) in Hsinchu County, signaling a moderate number of visitors.
In related news, the Yilan County Government on Friday said that the annual Yilan International Children’s Folklore and Folkgame Festival would be canceled this year to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
It was originally to be held between July and August.
Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) said that the decision was made to safeguard the health of all visitors and international performance groups.
The festival is considered an international cultural exchange event as it invites children’s folk performance troupes from around the world to perform, she said.
Since its establishment in 1996, it has invited 383 international performance groups from 98 countries and attracted more than 10 million visitors, the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts said.
The event was recognized as a international festival by the council on Nov. 11, 2010, making it the fourth such festival in Asia to be certified by the council.
In the 24 years since its establishment, the festival was canceled in 1998 due to fears of an enterovirus outbreak, in 2003 because of the SARS epidemic, and in 2008 and 2009 when it was replaced by the Yilan International Rain Festival.
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