A traffic ‘mass exodus’ may follow the April 8 eclipse. Here’s how one region is preparing. – GWC Mag

A group of science-loving and public works stakeholders in Rochester, New York, has been preparing for the April 8 solar eclipse since 2018, about a year after the last solar eclipse path of totality crossed the United States, in 2017. 

It will be another 150 years before the region experiences the total daytime darkness again, making this a “once-in-a-lifetime” event, said Jim Stack, the executive director of the Genesee Transportation Council.

Through GTC, Stack works on transportation policy, planning and investment decision-making in the Genesee-Finger Lakes region in west-central New York state. The group has been working with other organizations on the logistics that will be involved in managing Rochester’s influx of eclipse-seeking visitors on April 8. 

The Rochester Total Solar Eclipse Task Force, is planning for traffic, lodging, educational experiences, viewing parties, art showcases and other community events listed on an eclipse website. The city’s approximate 200,000-person population is likely to at least double; early modeling is estimating an additional 130,000 cars in the region, Stack said. 

“There are people that are like, ‘OK, [the eclipse] is no big deal,’ but for a lot of people, it’s a bit transformative for them,” Stack said. 

This year’s solar eclipse will differ from the 2017 eclipse due to a longer duration and a path that crosses more populous regions: About 32 million people live in the upcoming eclipse’s path of totality, compared with 12 million in 2017. Cities in the current path will also experience the eclipse for nearly double the amount of time — about 4 minutes — of those who saw it in 2017. The metro areas of Dallas and Austin, Texas; Little Rock, Arkansas; Indianapolis; Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; Erie, Pennsylvania; Buffalo and Rochester, New York; and Burlington, Vermont, will fall right under its path.

A ‘mass exodus’

“What came out of the 2017 eclipse was that a big portion of people leave [the eclipse viewing area] within the first two hours, and a big portion of those people leave within the first 15 minutes” of when the totality ends, Stack said. “I’ve been using the term mass exodus to describe it.”

Wyoming’s Department of Transportation spokesperson recently told Texas officials that in 2017, when it was in the path of totality, the state doubled its small population, from about 580,000 people to up to 1.5 million, and the roads were “completely overwhelmed.” Traffic accidents were up, and first responders worried about their ability to send ground transportation to any emergencies because interstate highways experienced bumper-to-bumper traffic. 

During this eclipse, Texas is preparing for up to a million people projected to travel to, within or through the state to get to the path of totality, said Matthew Heinze, Texas Department of Transportation emergency management coordinator, in a statement. The agency’s crews are preparing equipment and signage and will be available 24 hours a day during the event, according to a March 20 news release. Highway signs will read “NO STOPPING ON HIGHWAY TO VIEW ECLIPSE” and “NO PARKING ON SHOULDER, KEEP MOVING.”

Transportation engineering consultant Johnathan Upchurch wrote in a 2018 article in TR News that traffic congestion on rural interstate routes lasted for nearly 13 hours after the eclipse. A 4-hour trip from Casper, Wyoming, to Denver, Colorado, took upwards of 10 hours, he wrote. 

Traffic and safety concerns are top of mind for Stack and others working to ready their cities for visitors. GTC used flow maps and its data on average rush hour traffic in the Rochester region to predict the routes that will experience the most congestion in the hours after the eclipse. In that part of New York, the event is expected to last from about 2 to 4:30 p.m., with totality expected at 3:20 pm and lasting for about three and a half minutes. 

The GTC is using this modeling to make suggestions to city services about how they may want to operate during this time. For example, Rochester’s eastern and southern interstates will likely see the highest traffic following the eclipse, so emergency services could post ambulances or police along those routes to reach car accidents or injuries more efficiently.  

Cities facing the influx of visitors for the eclipse can prepare as they would for any other mass event, like the Super Bowl, or a concert in Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour. In fact, Rochester experienced a few hundred thousand visitors while hosting the PGA championship over four days last year, Stack said. 

But the abrupt ending of the eclipse and “mass exodus” expected is unique. Rochester’s Total Solar Eclipse task force is working to get visitors to stay in the city a little longer to spread out the expected travel. Its events calendar lists numerous events in the region in the days before and the day of the eclipse, continuing into the evening.

Tim Menard, founder and CEO of traffic optimization startup LYT, said he expects cities in the path of the eclipse to have people who are gathering specifically for the event and others trying to operate as business as usual. Because of a mid- to late-afternoon eclipse viewing time, people will be trying to commute home alongside all those traveling away from their eclipse-viewing spot. 

Menard hopes that communities lean in to the community aspect of the day. It’s unusual for hundreds of thousands of people to gather like this, especially in smaller towns that don’t usually see such tourism. There’s a huge economic stimulus aspect to the eclipse, and many towns are hosting educational events and watch parties to celebrate. 

“It’s going to take a combination of people, community and technology all working together on this day to ensure that even people who weren’t celebrating — just trying to do what they’re doing in life — don’t get impacted,” Menard said. “But something like this can make a community’s whole year.”