State and local officials are gearing up for major traffic delays on August 21, the day of the Great American Eclipse.
"This is an unusual event and we're anticipating thousands of people traveling into Missouri as the eclipse path is traveling right through the heart of the state," said Sgt. Collin Stosberg with the Missouri Highway Patrol.
The Missouri Highway Patrol will have extra troopers out trying to keep drivers safe during the event.
"Our main concern is traffic," said Stosberg. "When you've got that many people and an unusual event like that where you go from lightness to darkness, maybe most everyone will be aware of it, but there are some that perhaps won't."
One of the biggest concerns for the highway patrol is people pulling over onto the shoulder of the roadway to watch the eclipse.
"The worst thing you can do is stop and that's what we are worried about," he said. "Even the shoulder is a dangerous place to be, especially on the interstate or any other roadway."
Stosberg said the highway patrol will focus a lot of man power on Interstate 70, Interstate 35 and Interstate 49 in the Kansas City area.
In eastern Missouri their focus will be on Interstate 44 and Interstate 55.
The Missouri Highway Patrol said it's important for people to leave early in the morning, plan for extra time on your commute and plan to stay a couple of hours after the eclipse.
"If you're driving, pay attention to the job of driving," he said. "The solar eclipse glasses are going to be fun and it's going to be a fun event for everyone, but definitely not while driving."
The Missouri Department of Transportation also put out some tips on eclipse traffic:
- Turn your headlight on and do not rely on your automatic headlights
- Avoid travel during the eclipse or in the area of the main path if you can
- Don't take photos while you are driving
- If you have a minor crash on the eclipse day, please exit the highway to exchange insurance information. MO law requires vehicles to get out of the driving lanes when involved in a minor crash with no injuries.
- Watch out for extra pedestrians along smaller roads. People may be randomly parking and walking alongside roads in the hour before the total eclipse to get the best viewing.
The City of St. Joseph is also preparing for a major increase in traffic.
"The biggest challenge is we just don't know how many people are coming," said Jada Thomas, Emergency Management Director for the city. "We have an interstate and major highways that run through town so this is going to be a prime viewing site for the eclipse."
The city is considering manually controlling some of the traffic signals at the major interstate interchanges and limiting how many left turns can be made.
"We're not blocking any roads for the eclipse, we're just trying to manage some of the flow," said Thomas. "We are staffing extra 911 dispatchers. They've done some refresher training on particular call taking for water rescue because we are anticipating a lot of boat traffic on the Missouri River."
The city has also made emergency routes for some of the bigger viewing sites in case something were to happen.
