BEIJING - Highway stations across China have seen increasing passenger flow while millions of Chinese return to work as the week-long Spring Festival holiday comes to an end, transport authorities said Friday.

A total of 40.91 million road trips were made on Chinese highways on Thursday, up 9.8 percent from the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Transport.

He Jianzhong, a spokesman with the ministry, said that transport authorities in China had mobilized 750,000 passenger vehicles on Thursday to help complete the journeys.

He expected the post-festival travel peak to start Friday and bring heavy traffic to some sections of the country's major highways and road stations temporarily.

The snow and rainfall in the country's southern regions is not likely to have a serious impact on road travel in the coming days, said He.

The Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, which fell on January 23 this year, is traditionally a time for family reunions in the nation.