Watching the eclipse in Erie? Expect heavy traffic, and likely a slow return trip home

Erie County is expected to be flooded with sky watchers on the afternoon of April 8 when the sky darkens during a total solar eclipse.

Handling the inflow, and more importantly the exit, of those visitors is the focus of local transportation and emergency service agencies as the big day draws nearer.

It's unknown how many people will travel here to view the eclipse from outside of Erie County, which sits along the eclipse's path of totality, and when they will arrive before the big event. But what is known, based on information gathered from other areas of the country that have experienced a total eclipse, is that one big traffic headache is likely to occur once the event is over.

"We were told that in other areas, there was total gridlock for up to 12 hours, and the interstates were clogged for a good six hours," Millcreek Township Police Chief Carter Mook said.

State and local officials have been meeting for months to assess what Erie County might expect in terms of outside visitors and to discuss how to best handle the comings and goings of all those people and vehicles. Those meetings are still taking place, and plans are still being formulated.

Traffic issues

It's important to note that the eclipse will be the single largest event of our lifetime in Erie County, said Ed Orzehowski of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's Traffic Unit in District 1. The event is unique in that no one is in charge of it, and it's unknown where everyone will be going to watch it other than they will be going into the path of totality, which includes Erie County, he said.

Officials also don't know when visitors will be arriving, but do know from speaking with others from areas of previous eclipses that everyone tends to leave at the same time when the eclipse is over, Ozehowski said. The eclipse is expected to begin at about 2 p.m. on April 8, with totality at about 3:15 p.m., according to information on VisitErie.com.

"So obviously we are preparing for basically a mass volume onto Interstate 79 and Interstate 90," he said.

Because the eclipse is unlike other large events, such as a concert or a festival, and officials don't know where everyone will be going to watch it, PennDOT can't set up detours or temporary traffic pattern changes like they can for other things, PennDOT spokeswoman Jill Harry said. Officials are still coming up with plans on how to communicate messages to both local residents and those traveling from out of state, she said.

PennDOT will utilize its 511PA real-time traffic information site to alert residents and visitors to where traffic might be backing up prior to and on the day of the event, Harry said.

"It's fair to say that our goal isn't to eliminate congestion. It's to minimize it. The goal is how to minimize the impact as much as possible, how to keep traffic flowing," she said. "A lot of focus has been on Erie, but for us this is a regional event so it encompasses a lot of our District 1 area. We are taking the approach of how to minimize the impact on the entire region."

The agency's number one priority is safety, so officials want those who come to view the eclipse to exit the highways to do so and to not stop on the shoulders or exit and entry ramps, Orzehowski said. It's also important that motorists turn on their headlights during the event, he said.

PennDOT already has emergency detour plans in place in the region for use during weather events or accidents, and will utilize those plans if an accident or other issue forces the rerouting of traffic before, during or after the eclipse.

"The issue is there is probably going to be heavy traffic volume on the detour routes as well," Orzehowski said.

Local residents are advised to limit their travel during the eclipse to help cut down on the anticipated volume of traffic, Harry said.

Local preparations

Erie County will activate its emergency operations center and will staff it with county emergency management officials and representatives from agencies including PennDOT, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency before, during and after the eclipse, county emergency management coordinator Brian Mesaros said.

The county will rely on state and local police to handle traffic issues, Mesaros said.

The biggest message county officials are stressing to those coming to witness the eclipse is to find a safe place to watch and to not park on the side of roadways, he said.

The state police, like other agencies, are still developing their action plans for the eclipse. But officials in Troop E, which covers Erie and surrounding counties, plan to have increased staffing on hand and right now are planning to station troopers at all of I-79 and I-90's onramps to try to respond quickly to any incidents that might happen on the interstates, Troop E commander Capt. Kirk Reese said.

State police are also reaching out to towing services in the Erie region to be at their shops and be ready to respond to any accidents that might occur on April 8, Reese said.

The Erie Bureau of Police plans to have every available officer in uniform and ready to respond to anything that may arise during the eclipse, Police Chief Dan Spizarny said.

"We've been in touch with cities that have experienced it in the past. They say to expect a large amount of people," Spizarny said. "Crime isn't necessarily one of the top 10 problems, just the volume of people and traffic, people not from around here looking for the best place to park."

Erie police expect the bayfront to be extremely busy during the eclipse, Spizarny said. City police have partnered with the U.S. Coast Guard to develop plans for getting someone to the hospital should an emergency occur on the water during the event, he said.

Millcreek police will also increase the department's uniform presence by having non-uniformed personnel assisting the township's patrol complement to handle the expected increased call volume, Mook said.

"We would expect lots of complaints of traffic congestion," he said. "Since there will be so much more traffic, I would expect more accidents, and we will have people prepared to handle those."

Contact Tim Hahn at [email protected]. Follow him on X @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: April 8 eclipse: Officials plan for heavy traffic into Erie PA region