Taipei: Lunar New Year's Day travel led to widespread congestion across Taiwan on Tuesday, with freeway traffic increasing by an estimated 30.5 percent. The Freeway Bureau reported that this surge in traffic significantly impacted travel times and caused several delays.
According to Focus Taiwan, traffic was particularly heavy on specific sections of Freeway No. 1, including Yangmei-Hsinchu, Nantun-Changhua, Donghu-Xiizhi, and Rende-Tainan. Additionally, Freeway No. 3 experienced congestion in the Sanying-Kaoyuan, Kuaiguan-Wufeng, and Ankeng-Muzha sections. The overall freeway traffic was predicted to reach 122 million vehicle-kilometers on Tuesday, surpassing the usual daily average of 93 to 94 million vehicle-kilometers.
The bureau also forecasted potential afternoon traffic hotspots. These included the Yangmei-Hsinchu, Changhua-Puan, and Yuanshan-Dahua sections of Freeway No. 1; the Tucheng-Guanxi and Kuaiguan-Wufeng sections of Freeway No. 3; the Nangang-Toucheng and Yilan-Pinglin sections of Freeway No. 5; the Tsaotun-Wufeng section of Freeway No. 6; and the Dingjin-Yanchao and Renwu-Zuoying sections of Freeway No. 10.
The increased congestion resulted in several accidents. At 9:07 a.m., a collision between two passenger cars at the 324.2 km mark of the northbound section of Freeway No. 1 caused a 3 km traffic jam, which was cleared within 24 minutes. Another two-car collision at the 190.1 km mark of the southbound section of Freeway No. 1 led to 3 km tailbacks lasting approximately 7 minutes. Additionally, a third two-car crash at the 12.7 km mark of the eastbound section of Freeway No. 8 resulted in a 4 km traffic slowdown for about half an hour at 10:24 a.m.