Oregon will experience quite a show in August when the moon’s shadow cast by a solar eclipse begins its 2,500-mile-per-hour journey across the United States.
But if the predicted one million visitors in Oregon’s path of totality for the Aug. 21 eclipse don’t properly prepare or aren’t paying attention, that show won’t be the celestial dance they came for. It’ll be a cosmic traffic jam on the roads below.
The Oregon Department of Transportation is expecting that many Oregon highways will be especially crowded in the days around the eclipse. We ask that, when you’re traveling, you keep your hands on the wheel, your mind on the task, and your eyes on the road—not on the sky.
Statistics show that many crashes are the result of distracted driving and traveling too fast for conditions. So ODOT is encouraging you to avoid unnecessary distractions during your travels — and especially when Oregon highways will be very crowded during the time of the eclipse. That means planning your travel well in advance; knowing where you’re going; and for long trips, knowing where you’re going to go when the need arises!
ODOT will have crews posted along critical travel routes to keep motorists mobile and safe, and will be providing travel updates via Tripcheck.com and 511 so you can be prepared with the most current travel information available. Properly supplied and informed, we all can avoid becoming “highway luna(r)-tics” during the eclipse.
