Posted on 08/24/2017 2:10:17 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Everyone in America was planning for the solar eclipse on August 21, except, apparently, the Montana Department of Transportation.
That day, a contractor hired by MDT had scheduled a fairly major road construction project to begin on Interstate 15 near the Clark Canyon Dam. As tens of thousands of people headed north from the path of the eclipse to get home Monday around 4:30 p.m., they encountered a miles-long traffic jam that slowed traffic to a bumper-to-bumper crawl for more than an hour for some drivers.
The flow of traffic was not a problem on the northbound lane of I-15 between central Idaho and Butte except at the point where the construction project began, a roughly seven-mile stretch near Exit 44 about 20 miles south of Dillon. Because cones were on the interstate and the driving lanes were reduced from two to one in the northbound lane, a huge bottleneck ensued.
To make matters worse, temperatures soared into the 80s that day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to cut the blistering heat, and that stretch of interstate is bereft of trees or any shady pullouts. Because the solar eclipse happened on Monday morning, traffic had trickled south into the path of the eclipse in Idaho and Wyoming over the long weekend.
When it ended, though, weary travelers were all headed back home at the same time in order to show up for work Tuesday. According to the Casper Star-Tribune newspaper, more than a million people came to Wyoming — a state with only half a million people — for the event, and the numbers in Idaho were similar. The road construction project was an extremely unwelcome, inconvenient irritation for many drivers who hoped to get home before dark.
For one Montana woman, it was inconceivable that the project was slated to begin on a day when everyone had known for months that traffic would be heavy.
Butte resident Gretchen Geller said she was stuck in traffic on I-15 for more than an hour as she was trying to return to Butte from Idaho after the eclipse. Geller said the traffic jam began in Lima and continued until they reached Clark Canyon dam. She called it “unnecessary.”
“We were trying to figure out why,” she said by phone Wednesday. “When we got there, (to where the transportation workers were working) they weren’t doing anything. Nothing was happening. It was pretty despicable. We were pretty tired.”
Geller said she saw approximately five to 10 cars drive across the median, ignoring the “emergency vehicles only” sign, to head back on Interstate 15 south because of the line of cars. She also saw a significant amount of traffic on Old Butte Highway, which runs parallel to Interstate 15.
“You never see anybody on that highway,” she said.
Late in the afternoon, cones were still up on the interstate although all the construction workers had gone home for the day. At least two Montana Highway Patrol troopers had stopped near the beginning of the jam to warn people to slow down.
The Idaho Transportation Department, unlike the MDT, put all major road construction projects on hold in anticipation of heavy traffic for the eclipse.
“To optimize safety and mobility for residents and visitors, ITD is suspending most highway construction and maintenance Saturday through Monday (Aug. 19-21) where traffic is expected to be impacted,” the ITD’s website states.
The road construction project has been under contract for about a month now, according to Montana Department of Transportation Butte District manager Jeff Ebert.
“We apologize wholeheartedly,” he said. “We’ve done (construction project delays) in the past (in anticipation of high traffic) and looked at it and probably made a bad mistake here in this regard. We’ll get 'er better next time.”
Ebert said that signs were up days in advance of the project warning drivers that construction would begin the day of the eclipse, but that was little consolation to those who came upon the snarl.
When asked if his office had discussed suspending the project in anticipation of heavy traffic, Ebert explained that, in hindsight, it would have been a good idea.
“There was some work done by our maintenance folks to get the message to travelers out,” Ebert said. “Those discussions took place. Typically, like the Fourth of July, we shut down construction during that time period. We probably should have this time. For the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, we did and then they didn’t show up.”
Ebert said that typically that stretch of interstate sees under 1,000 average daily trips, and he estimated that on Monday there were probably 1,000 cars per hour at the peak travel time.
“I’ve received a few complaints,” he said.
When eclipse trips go bad.
Combined PING! and DANG!
ooohh, we were delayed an hour...how horrific!!!
Petty goes balistic.
Gretchen was stuck in traffic for an HOUR!!!! What a whimp, come to CA and experience traffic, an hour is half of one way of a commute for a lot here..
I live in Minneapolis. An hour is nothing on a daily basis.
We’ll “get ‘re better next time”
Ha,ha,ha,ha,ha,ha!!!! Hilarious!
Is there anyone more stupid than a “local district” decision-maker?
Caught in traffic for an hour! Pssshaw . . . try 15 hours coming back from Oregon!
Have you ever driven in Montana? Those people are not used to being in a car that is that is moving at speeds less than 90 mile per hour.
The Montana Department of Transportation controls the Sun and the Moon? THAT is rather impressive!
It took us 6 hours to drive back after a 3 hour drive up, from Savannah to Santee, SC.
Fortunately for us, we knew the back roads and avoided the long waits. Our problem was just slow drivers.
Did get an amazing view of the eclipse though.
I noticed that! “Temperatures soared into the 80s!”
I was in MO with a dew point of at least 75.
That’s humidity when your sweat beads have sweat beads.
Although I admit it’s not Houston or Florida.
We had some kin folks trying to escape a gulf coast hurricane that drove over 24 hrs to go about 250 miles.
OMG!!! A whole hour! My wife and I were stuck on the Great Smoky Mtn. Expressway on our way to the totality zone on Monday for about an hour...good thing we had cookies and bottled water with us, or we might not be here right now. Sissies.
“To make matters worse, temperatures soared into the 80s that day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky to cut the blistering heat, and that stretch of interstate is bereft of trees or any shady pullouts.”
They must be kidding, in South Carolina we consider any day that ONLY “soared into the 80s” a cold front. We start to shiver at 78 degrees.
YUP; and that is for a 5 mile one way trip.
All of that aside, experiencing totality for the first time was worth every minute of delay on the road. I thought I knew what to expect, but WOW....it was an utterly indescribable experience. I think it is the only thing I've witnessed in my life that is truly impossible to explain unless you experience it for yourself. If you saw the partial eclipse you may wonder what all the fuss was about, but even 99% coverage is nothing compared to totality. The moment it occurs you are suddenly just teleported to a different plane of existence.
I'm not the "touchy-feely" type, but my description above is actually very restrained compared to the reality of what occurred. I feel now like someone who was abducted by aliens or something. Another person who has experienced the same thing understands completely what you are babbling on about, but everyone else just thinks you're nuts.
Especially if you believe in God, totality was just like ripping the curtain away between you and the awesome majesty of His creation. It is profound and soul-shaking. I never expected any of that and therefore didn't see coming the way it would affect me. I just thought it would be a really cool thing to see. No...no...no...no...It is WAY more than that.
If you ever get the chance to experience totality, beg, borrow, steal, hitchhike or whatever it takes to get there. It's worth whatever it takes. Oh, and if you think you've basically seen what it looks like from photos or videos, even the excellent ones from NASA, you are dead wrong. Even the best images, compared to the real experience, are like stick figure drawings compared to the Mona Lisa.
I know, I get that delay almost every other day on my 47 mile commute.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.