Like all the local folk here in the state of Arkansas, I've been musing about the 600 pound gorilla in the room these days: the eclipse, which is now 3 days away. Local officials are expecting our town of 30,000 to be inundated with around 150,000 eclipse tourists.
NASA is setting up here, plus The Weather Channel and some other big names. A news article last October said at that time only two hotels had unreserved rooms for April 8; one was charging $500 and the other $700. In Arkansas, it's only illegal to price gouge during a state of emergency, which this isn't. Not yet, anyway... The director of the county department of emergency management is my neighbor, and he's totally freaked out, despite more than a year of careful, intensive preparation.
Local authorities expect poor service or even outages of the cellular system due to overloading, ditto for internet service. We were told to procure adequate groceries, toiletries, medications, etc and fuel up our cars before Friday when the visitors start piling in, because supplies will become depleted and replenishment freight will not be happening because it's the weekend, plus the traffic congestion. My wife went to the grocery store after work, and stock was already running very low. It's Friday and the last trucks run today, so by tonight it'll be bare shelves until sometime Tuesday at the earliest.
All weekend through to eclipse time, they're having live bands, vendors and concessions in the downtown business district by the train depot (THE major local gathering spot), which is packed with people on a normal weekend. My workplace will be be closed Monday, as will all schools and many other businesses. It's about 7 blocks from the depot, and our manager told us to watch for debris in the parking lot when we return to work Tuesday morning. My wife's workplace is about 15 blocks away, and they've already pre-sold all their >50 parking spaces at $30 each.
Warnings have been issued to those attending large public gatherings that there will be pickpockets, scammers, thieves with RF devices to steal debit/credit card numbers, as well as all other sorts of criminals, such as burglars hitting residences just outside the path of totality while the occupants are gone for an hour or two. Local officials have repeatedly admonished us to be watchful for card skimmers on all card-pay devices. One was found on a gas pump near here just a few days ago.
The Arkansas Department Of Transportation published a map of forecasted traffic congestion of major thoroughfares in 4 levels, which are:
"Extreme – The highest congestion levels on the system. These are bottleneck points that will ultimately determine the capacity of the system.
Very High – Volumes will be well above capacity (possibly several times the hourly capacity), a condition that will likely continue for several hours after the Eclipse. Incidents here could quickly make conditions even worse.
High – Volume will likely be above capacity for several hours, with significant delays occurring. If all goes well, traffic will probably clear within a few hours; however, incidents could quickly result in more severe problems.
Significant – Volumes will approach or modestly exceed capacity, with some delays. Any incidents could quickly worsen conditions on these roadways.
Many of these routes are in locations where residents or local agencies are not accustomed to heavy traffic. Because ARDOT resources will largely be deployed on other routes, assistance from local agencies may be requested to ensure these routes continue to function as well as possible given the circumstances."
Interstate 40 runs through here; it and the main north-south venue through the city are expected to be gridlocked. Certain streets and sections of roadways in the area will be blocked off to ensure clear passage for emergency vehicles, worsening the congestion elsewhere. Local officials have informed residents that they anticipate increased traffic inflow today, a sharp increase by noon Saturday, and top-level craziness Sunday afternoon. And, it's not just roads! Small craft traffic on the Arkansas River is forecast to be extremely high, and the State of Arkansas and U.S. Coast Guard have issued bulletins.
The city has announced its part-time police officers will be working full time, the county sheriff has called up all his reserve deputies, and Governor Sarah Huckabee-Sanders has activated several National Guard units. All county and state road maintenance and construction has been postponed, because of potential impact on traffic congestion. All individuals, agencies and businesses in unincorporated areas of the county allowing 15 or more vehicles to park on their property were required to register with the county emergency management office by the 15th of last month. This was done to ensure that if first responders are needed, they'll already be aware where the large groups are located.
All this is before the eclipse. It's 5 minutes after when the REAL chaos will begin, when everybody leaves at the same time. The downtown district and all the local parks have events and activities scheduled into the evening to encourage everyone to hang around, in order to mitigate the post-eclipse traffic gridlock. Arkansas DOT has cautioned against residents engaging in non-essential travel until late Monday evening, and it doesn't expect traffic to fully return to normal until Wednesday.
We're all really nervous about the population of our town suddenly increasing by 500%, but on the flip side I'm incredibly thankful to be able to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event on my own back porch! I was wondering if anyone here has travel plans to view the totality, or is anticipating similar circumstances in your local area within the path of totality.
NASA is setting up here, plus The Weather Channel and some other big names. A news article last October said at that time only two hotels had unreserved rooms for April 8; one was charging $500 and the other $700. In Arkansas, it's only illegal to price gouge during a state of emergency, which this isn't. Not yet, anyway... The director of the county department of emergency management is my neighbor, and he's totally freaked out, despite more than a year of careful, intensive preparation.
Local authorities expect poor service or even outages of the cellular system due to overloading, ditto for internet service. We were told to procure adequate groceries, toiletries, medications, etc and fuel up our cars before Friday when the visitors start piling in, because supplies will become depleted and replenishment freight will not be happening because it's the weekend, plus the traffic congestion. My wife went to the grocery store after work, and stock was already running very low. It's Friday and the last trucks run today, so by tonight it'll be bare shelves until sometime Tuesday at the earliest.
All weekend through to eclipse time, they're having live bands, vendors and concessions in the downtown business district by the train depot (THE major local gathering spot), which is packed with people on a normal weekend. My workplace will be be closed Monday, as will all schools and many other businesses. It's about 7 blocks from the depot, and our manager told us to watch for debris in the parking lot when we return to work Tuesday morning. My wife's workplace is about 15 blocks away, and they've already pre-sold all their >50 parking spaces at $30 each.
Warnings have been issued to those attending large public gatherings that there will be pickpockets, scammers, thieves with RF devices to steal debit/credit card numbers, as well as all other sorts of criminals, such as burglars hitting residences just outside the path of totality while the occupants are gone for an hour or two. Local officials have repeatedly admonished us to be watchful for card skimmers on all card-pay devices. One was found on a gas pump near here just a few days ago.
The Arkansas Department Of Transportation published a map of forecasted traffic congestion of major thoroughfares in 4 levels, which are:
"Extreme – The highest congestion levels on the system. These are bottleneck points that will ultimately determine the capacity of the system.
Very High – Volumes will be well above capacity (possibly several times the hourly capacity), a condition that will likely continue for several hours after the Eclipse. Incidents here could quickly make conditions even worse.
High – Volume will likely be above capacity for several hours, with significant delays occurring. If all goes well, traffic will probably clear within a few hours; however, incidents could quickly result in more severe problems.
Significant – Volumes will approach or modestly exceed capacity, with some delays. Any incidents could quickly worsen conditions on these roadways.
Many of these routes are in locations where residents or local agencies are not accustomed to heavy traffic. Because ARDOT resources will largely be deployed on other routes, assistance from local agencies may be requested to ensure these routes continue to function as well as possible given the circumstances."
Interstate 40 runs through here; it and the main north-south venue through the city are expected to be gridlocked. Certain streets and sections of roadways in the area will be blocked off to ensure clear passage for emergency vehicles, worsening the congestion elsewhere. Local officials have informed residents that they anticipate increased traffic inflow today, a sharp increase by noon Saturday, and top-level craziness Sunday afternoon. And, it's not just roads! Small craft traffic on the Arkansas River is forecast to be extremely high, and the State of Arkansas and U.S. Coast Guard have issued bulletins.
The city has announced its part-time police officers will be working full time, the county sheriff has called up all his reserve deputies, and Governor Sarah Huckabee-Sanders has activated several National Guard units. All county and state road maintenance and construction has been postponed, because of potential impact on traffic congestion. All individuals, agencies and businesses in unincorporated areas of the county allowing 15 or more vehicles to park on their property were required to register with the county emergency management office by the 15th of last month. This was done to ensure that if first responders are needed, they'll already be aware where the large groups are located.
All this is before the eclipse. It's 5 minutes after when the REAL chaos will begin, when everybody leaves at the same time. The downtown district and all the local parks have events and activities scheduled into the evening to encourage everyone to hang around, in order to mitigate the post-eclipse traffic gridlock. Arkansas DOT has cautioned against residents engaging in non-essential travel until late Monday evening, and it doesn't expect traffic to fully return to normal until Wednesday.
We're all really nervous about the population of our town suddenly increasing by 500%, but on the flip side I'm incredibly thankful to be able to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event on my own back porch! I was wondering if anyone here has travel plans to view the totality, or is anticipating similar circumstances in your local area within the path of totality.
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