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How Departments of Transportation Plan for a Solar Eclipse

fleetnewsdaily | August 18, 2017

Monday, August 21, 2017 marks the date that nearly 200 million Americans will experience a remarkable act of nature, a Solar Eclipse. Here is how Departments of Transportation plan to react

The Solar Eclipse Path will effect fourteen great US states between about 16:00 Universal Time (UT) (on the west coast) and 20:00 UT (on the east coast) in the following order:

Oregon
Idaho
Montana
Wyoming
Nebraska
Iowa
Arkansas
Missouri
Illinois
Kentucky
Tennessee
North Carolina
Georgia
And South Carolina

With this momentous act of nature on the way, it will be important for Sate and Local Departments of Transportation to prepare for the travel related complications linked with the Eclipse.

Notably, it will be vital to deal with the impending increase in local travel demand from people attempting to get the best view possible.

Thus, it may be helpful to develop partnerships with WAZE and other user-based travel applications to generate real-time information in rural areas where congestion is uncommon.

The Federal Highway Administration has detailed information for planned special events.

Departments of Transportation might need to directly take action by changing construction and maintenance schedules because the distraction of the Solar Eclipse could lead to congested work zones and detours.

Because the duration of the Solar Eclipse at any given location will be about 3 hours from the start of the partial eclipse to the end, travelers should plan be at their observation location a minimum of a few hours beforehand.

Therefore, State and local DOTs may include instituting roadblocks or other measures to keep people from making illegal turns as they drive around looking for “the perfect spot” as eclipse totality nears.

In addition to individual travelers, the eclipse is likely to draw numerous groups including schools, enthusiast communities, and other entities with varying capabilities for advance planning and organization.

While arrivals are expected to be somewhat paced, the departures on the other hand will be more compressed as there is no reason to remain after the event.

Tags: 2017, Department of Transportation, path, Solar Eclipse