Ahead of the April 8 total solar eclipse, which will stretch from Texas to Maine, some state transportation departments are advising truckers to consider staying off the roads as traffic is expected to be severely impacted by people traveling to see the astronomical event.
Millions of people descended on states with views of the 2017 total solar eclipse, congesting roadways. Transportation officials are sharing plans in an effort to minimize headache-inducing traffic jams. That includes guidance for truckers when up to 3.7 million people are expected to chase the darkness this time around.
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The Arkansas Department of Transportation expects 1.5 million people to travel to the state to see the eclipse, along with 500,000 Arkansans who are expected to travel from their homes to witness the path of totality. Officials say traffic could be so severe “that the day may be mostly unproductive for freight vehicles,” and they are asking truckers to take a voluntary holiday to avoid congested roadways that could impact their routes.
The Indiana Department of Transportation is bracing for a wave of “eclipse enthusiasts as they flock to the Hoosier State” by asking truckers to complete their loads on April 7 or April 9, according to a bulletin shared in February. Similarly, the Vermont transportation department is asking truckers to avoid driving on April 8 or 9.
It’s unclear how many truckers will heed that call.
“Freight movement is a 24/7 operation,” said Gary Langston, Indiana Motor Truck Association president and CEO. “Everything that we all have at some point moves on a truck, so to say let’s shut it all down and wait for people to watch the eclipse and move after just isn’t realistic.”
Truckers face the worst driving conditions imaginable every day as part of their profession, and Langston said their expertise will prepare them for eclipse traffic.
Indiana, a hub for manufacturing and trucking due to its interstates, expects hundreds of thousands of visitors to flood the state to witness the path of totality. Langston said he appreciated Indiana’s transportation department working with his office to find a solution feasible for the state’s truck drivers, many of whom might not be able to avoid making a trip on April 8.
“The last thing a truck driver wants to do with a load of freight is be caught in gridlock traffic,” he said. “That’s one of the most expensive costs to the freight industry.”
Langston said that superloads, which weigh over 200,000 pounds and require police escorts, won’t be operating during the eclipse because law enforcement won’t have the resources — a move backed by researchers who studied the 2017 eclipse’s impact on traffic.
Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association, said she wasn’t sure if taking a trucking holiday was realistic, as “the nature of moving freight is one that doesn’t necessarily stop.” Newton said she’s uncertain whether any truckers are taking a holiday.
She said Arkansas truck drivers have dealt with severe weather in the past but never something like this, calling the solar eclipse “a significant event.” She encouraged truck drivers to anticipate delays and to set accurate expectations for customers.
Transportation departments stressed that drivers — including truckers — should prepare to face eclipse traffic. AAA urged drivers to keep their headlights on and to not pull over on the side of the road to view the eclipse.
Out-of-this-world traffic is likely if this year’s eclipse proves as popular as 2017’s. Transportation engineering consultant Jonathan Upchurch said a trip from Casper, Wyoming, to Denver took 10 hours or more during the previous eclipse. It normally takes just four hours. Many transportation departments are asking visitors to arrive early and stay late in hopes of avoiding congestion seen in 2017.
“In the hours immediately following totality, almost every Interstate route passing through the path of totality showed red on Google Traffic maps,” Upchurch wrote in TR News in 2018.
What states are doing to prepare
School districts in Missouri, Texas, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Maine, Arkansas and Ohio are closing for the eclipse, citing safety concerns and challenges posed by increased traffic.
Some Texas municipalities have declared a state of emergency ahead of the eclipse to give themselves more resources to handle the wave of visitors. New York State Police have developed an emergency operation plan, using the 2017 eclipse as a blueprint. Oklahoma is calling in the National Guard to provide support.
Hays County officials in Texas are urging eclipse chasers to bring a “solar eclipse survival bag” consisting of a cooler filled with food, enough medication for up to three days, cash, and paper maps and a compass.
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Mary Ellen
I’m a truck driver and I do plan to get as far out of area but will stop during eclipse time.
We truckers and other essential workers worked during COVID and the government did nothing for us essential workers. Yet we continued to serve America and so did all the other essentials workers. Some passed away doing it. God bless them and deepest condolences to their family and friends.
And to ask for truckers to take a VACATION or two days during this event is wrong. They should’ve just told people or recommended to stay home and look at it vs over crowding the public ways. WE truckers can’t just TAKE days off , this is our life to keep our family fed and bills paid. It’s our responsibility of KEEPING AMERICA MOVING!
Every one stay safe out there during this eclipse ordeal. We all have family to get back home to.
Park it if it’s too bad. Simple solution!
Keith
In my 35 years of driving a truck for a living, I’ve of course heard a lot of ridiculous @#$% coming from various state and federal DOT departments, but this one might take the 🎂 so to speak. Telling drivers and trucking companies to just shut it down and take a “personal holiday ” for a day or two so idiot tourists can park all over the sides of the highways to stare at the sun for a couple of hours, brilliant. And all the shippers and consignees, manufacturers in the path or near it, they should just shut down for a day or two as well because the trucks will be idle for a day of two so the poor idiot tourists won’t have to deal with, egads, and horrors, the trucks trying to pick up and deliver everything they have, need, and want in their everyday lives? Good Christ, what’s next, will you be telling the industry to take the week of Thanksgiving off so we don’t get in the way of all the idiots trying to kill themselves for a turkey dinner on a Thursday in November?
Unf@#$ing believable!
John Paul Jones
Thanks so very much for this article. I didn’t focus much on Truckers, I was communicating more with public transit users and violence prevention workers. Assessing the plans of our Intermodal Stations and chambers of commerce offices will add to our public safety. Great article!
On the Southside of Chicago we are pursuing ways to both enjoy this scientific moment while being safe conscious.
aj
WELL IF YALL DIDNT READ IT TILL THE END THEY ARE GIVIN U ALL A NOTICE/WARNI G “BRING A SURVIVAL BAG FOR UP TO 3 DAYS ” A SURVIVAL ECLISPE BAG FOR A 3 MIN MAN MADE EVENT
Jay
I stayed off the road. If you going to pay me for two days. I can’t afford to stay home for two days.
Ranger Clark
@David Carson – at least you’re humble.
Victor
This has happened before. It will happen again. People are acting like it’s the Middle Ages and the gods are angry with us so they cast us into darkness. SMH
David Carson
Hello, I would like to say that your asking for truckers to stay off the roadways because of a event, that is going to attract tourists to want to see and or be present for this eclipse, really?how about the goods that the country needs to be delivered by these highway heroes called truckers, come on,give us a break, we and I do mean we,myself included will carry on as business as usual, sorry. Oh yeah, here’s an idea, why don’t you suggest that those people, tourists/those with no job/or anyone else that has nothing better to do,ask them to stay home and view it from their couch,and let the rest of us work. Truckers and first responders, those that keep us safe,and those that keep America moving. DLC,thanks