LIMA, OH (WLIO) - All across the state of Ohio, schools and businesses are closed, hotels are booked, and people will be rushing to get their viewing spots, then get home. The Allen County EMA spoke on Sunday about their preparations and predictions for Monday.
Less than 24 hours before Ohio's total solar eclipse, the Allen County EMA is monitoring the traffic coming into the area. Visitors from other states and countries are expected to arrive in larger numbers starting Monday morning, and with many hotels requiring a two-night minimum, congestion could continue through Tuesday morning.
"The largest possibility for our congestion, we think, is going to be that 117-309 triangle, where all of our congestion of hotels are, our restaurants, and gas stations. That's probably going to be our number one spot for congestion, but then also, as you start to travel up to State Route 30, that interchange there could also become congested when people are trying to get east or west off of I-75 after the eclipse as well," explained Tom Berger, the director of the Allen County EMA.
Monday evening, especially, as many leave town as soon as the eclipse is over, travel times could increase by as much as two or threefold, based on data from Kentucky's 2017 eclipse. Even state routes and secondary streets could see heavy traffic due to phone navigation apps like Google Maps rerouting motorists.
Drivers should also be aware that Bluelick Road between Sugar Street and Berry Hill Road will be closed to all non-emergency vehicles on Monday, as well as Bowman Road between SR 177 and 309.
"So the Bowman Road is directly tied to the traffic that we anticipate leaving the fairgrounds. After the eclipse, we're trying to push people to the south to make it easier on the folks that will be on 309 there," Berger added.
If the worst were to happen, Governor DeWine has activated the Ohio Emergency Operations Center, which would allow the state to quickly send aid to areas in the path of the eclipse.
"We're hoping that we don't need to utilize them, but the state will have a representative here in our EOC. Just in case we do need to reach out to the state, we'll go directly through that representative here. It could be anything from unfortunately a mass casualty incident; it could be a traffic accident that involves a hazardous material, so we could be looking for a variety of different things from the state helping to deal with those types of situations," Berger said.
The EMA recommends that residents and visitors tune into local radio stations throughout Monday for updates on traffic conditions and possible road closures if there are any accidents.
