TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Freeway Bureau warned of heavy congestion on 17 national freeway sections Thursday afternoon, with traffic volume expected to hit 1.5 times weekday levels.

CNA reported that on the third day of the Lunar New Year holiday there were several choke points on the nation’s roads. Many Taiwanese travel during the holiday to see family or take short trips.

At 11 a.m., freeways logged 41.7 million vehicle-kilometers, projecting a daily total of 135 million — well above the 93 million weekday norm, according to the bureau. The southbound National Freeway No. 1 from Yangmei to Hsinchu topped the afternoon jam list, alongside sections on Nos. 1, 3, and 5.

Three crashes further snarled traffic before noon, including a northbound No. 1 rear-end collision that caused a 4-kilometer tailback, a four-car pileup on northbound No. 3, and a three-car collision on southbound No. 3.

Motorists were advised to use high-occupancy vehicle lanes where available or delay southbound No. 5 trips past 5 p.m.

Vehicle-kilometers (vkm) measure total traffic volume by multiplying the number of vehicles by the distance each travels in kilometers.