The nation’s longest tunnel – The Hsuehshan (or “Snow Mountain”) Tunnel -- saw bumper-to-bumper traffic on Sunday at the end of a three-day weekend.
The National Freeway Bureau said that while traffic was largely smooth-going on the rest of Taiwan’s national highways, the flow of cars had slowed along National Highway Number Five. That’s the highway that connects the northeastern county of Yilan with the Taipei metropolitan area via the Hsuehshan Tunnel.
Traffic officials say that by early afternoon, the traffic had slowed to about 42 km per hour. They say the highway is likely to see heavy traffic lasting through midnight, with people heading back to begin the work week on Monday.
Meanwhile, traffic on the nation’s two main north-south freeways – National Highway Numbers One and Three – was largely steady, maintaining speeds of above 80 km per hour.