Austin area braces for eclipse traffic surge

From KUT News:

Some Central Texas roads could be jampacked with eclipse watchers on April 8, the first time in over a century the moon will completely block the sun in Texas.

Exactly how many people will drive to the path of totality is a shot in the dark. But if the last total solar eclipse in the U.S. is any indication, the gridlock could be historic.

“After the eclipse, everyone got into their car at the same time and there was practically an instant traffic jam on the interstate,” eclipse chaser Michael Zeiler recalls of the Aug. 21, 2017, event. His drive down I-25 from Casper, Wyo., to Northern Colorado — normally a three-hour trip — became a grueling 12-hour journey.

A Wyoming Department of Transportation spokesperson told a reporter it was the worst traffic he had ever seen in the state. Part of I-25 had a 403% increase in vehicles after the daylight returned.

This time, the traffic is coming to the Texas Hill Country. The eclipse will center over the scenic, tourist-friendly area that boasts some of the best April weather along the path of totality. Towns like Burnet, Llano and Marble Falls will experience close to the maximum 4 minutes and 28 seconds of daytime darkness.

“That whole area, the Texas Hill Country near the center line can expect massive visitation on eclipse day,” said Zeiler, who’s planning to watch the eclipse from Fredericksburg, because highways jut out of the city in six directions like bicycle spokes: U.S. 290, U.S. 87 and Texas 16.

“If eclipse morning presents patchy clouds, I’ve got six ways to relocate,” said Zeiler, whose visitation estimates on GreatAmericanEclipse.com are being used by some Central Texas officials to plan for crowds.

His most eye-popping forecast for Central Texas? Up to 488,000 visitors could cram into Kerrville, a town of 25,000 about 100 miles west of Austin. The seat of Kerr County is on I-10, providing a direct pipeline of traffic from San Antonio and Houston.

In nearby Fredericksburg, 25 miles closer to Austin than Kerrville, the city of 11,000 is bracing for 100,000 visitors or more.

“I don’t really know what to expect. I don’t know what it’s going to look like to see potentially hundreds of thousands of people here,” said Emily Kirchner, a Fredericksburg city council member who also sits on Gillespie County’s eclipse task force. “I’m looking forward to it, although very cautious and concerned.”

Back in 2017, interstate highways turned into parking lots. Delays stretched up to 13 hours, according to a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) webinar with state governments last month. Rural roads were even worse. Some traffic jams were 70 miles long.

The FHWA said five million people traveled to see the 2017 eclipse. That’s how many they’re expecting this time, too.

“Rural areas could expect an exponential increase in population during the event,” Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) spokesperson Brad Wheelis warned in an email.

Eclipse viewers will trickle in over multiple days. But after the sun is blotted out from the sky, an immediate mass exodus could spawn a traffic apocalypse. Some states are asking people not to leave right away, adopting the mantra: “Arrive early. Stay put. Leave late.”

TxDOT is following some FHWA’s eclipse advice for traffic. Contractors working on state roads will have to limit construction activity and lane closures.

One notable exception is in Stonewall. That’s where U.S. 290 — the main road from Austin to Fredericksburg — will remain narrowed to a single lane in each direction, “which should be exciting for traffic,” Fredericksburg Council Member Bobby Watson deadpanned at a December meeting. TxDOT said a bridge project in Stonewall is under construction, so one lane in each direction must remain closed.

The state isn’t restricting oversized truck loads during the eclipse, according to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles, which issues permits for super-sized cargo. Transportation researchers at South Carolina State University found that restricting oversized trucks was “essential” during the days before and after the 2017 eclipse.

Nebraska was among at least three states to ban oversized loads during the eclipse in 2017.

“We really kind of walked through all the different scenarios on what we thought we might be experiencing that day,” Nebraska Department of Transportation Jeni Campana recollected of the decision in 2017. “We were all singing from the same songbook.”

TxDOT will have tow truck companies on standby to clear roads in case of a crash or a car breaking down. The state’s changeable message signs will flash the following text: “NO STOPPING ON HIGHWAY TO VIEW ECLIPSE, NO PARKING ON SHOULDER, KEEP MOVING.”

One of the state’s concerns is that last-minute sky-gazers could pull their hot vehicles onto tinder, dry grass and spark a wildfire in areas firetrucks couldn’t reach because of traffic.

The city’s network of bike paths offers another way to reach more eclipse time while avoiding major roads. The further west cyclists go, the more likely they are to encounter “low-comfort” routes with lots of cars and little to no bicycle accommodations.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) is expecting busy days on April 8 and 9, but city management says the darkened skies won’t affect operations. The rental car return at the airport will be busier than normal after the eclipse, ABIA spokesperson Bailey Grimmett said.

Some airlines are offering flights to witness the darkening with nothing between you and the horizon. A civilian plane can’t keep up with a shadow traveling at 2,000 miles per hour, but the view from 35,000 feet can be breathtaking, as seen in this Alaska Airlines eclipse flight from 2017.

Alaska Airlines told KUT it didn’t have any eclipse flights out of Austin.

Delta’s Austin to Detroit eclipse flight sold out in 24 hours. The airline offered a second one out of Dallas. Southwest says a regularly scheduled Austin to Indianapolis flight is among eight routes expected to offer a good view of the celestial event.

But a lot of people on the ground in the Austin-area will get a good dose of daytime darkness, even if it’s not the full 4 minutes and 28 seconds.

“It’s like the Superbowl and the World Series and Christmas and Thanksgiving rolled into one for an astronomer,” Zeiler said. “It simply is the most breathtaking sight you will ever see in the sky.”

If you found the reporting above valuable, please consider making a donation to support it here. Your gift helps pay for everything you find on texasstandard.org and KUT.org. Thanks for donating today.