It Begins: Eclipse Traffic Backups Already Starting

ENUMCLAW, WA - The Ochocho National Forest in Central Oregon posted some amazing and scary photos on Twitter Monday. The pictures show a long line of cars at a standstill along a road that bisects the forest. The backup was so bad, people were out of their cars hanging out by the side of the road.

Meanwhile, the Oregon state police tweeted an aerial photo of a line of cars stacked up along Highway 26, which appeared to go on for miles.

The eclipse isn't until Monday, but the rush is already on to get to the path of "totality" - where the total eclipse can be seen. Central Oregon is the closest spot to us. Transit officials have been warning drivers for weeks to prepare for nightmare traffic conditions, and it looks like those predictions are coming true.

The Puget Sound area will only see a partial 90 to 94 percent eclipse, but WSDOT is warning drivers to prepare for worsening conditions. That's because many people traveling to the path of totality are coming from Washington, Idaho, and British Colombia. Traffic is supposed to get really bad beginning Friday.

Here's what WSDOT wrote in an eclipse post on its blog:

Sure, the eclipse will last a little over two minutes on Monday, Aug. 21, but people hitting the road will likely create additional congestion leading up to the event, and potentially even afterward as they try to go home. Morning traffic on southbound I-5 between Vancouver, Washington into Portland is typically slow-going and regularly backs up for miles. Now imagine thousands more added into the mix resulting in even bigger backups and longer delays – this could get really gnarly. Other portions of I-5 could see unusual congestion, as well as other routes in the state such as:

I-82 – Benton County
US 97 – Klickitat County
SR 14 – Columbia River Gorge
US 197 – Dallesport
I-205 – Clark County to Portland
SR 433 – The Lewis and Clark Bridge in Longview
SR 4 – Longview to Naselle
SR 401 – Naselle to Dismal Nitch
US 101 – Ilwaco to Astoria

One final reminder from WSDOT: if you're driving during the eclipse, do not pull over along the shoulder to watch. And definitely don't stop in the middle of the road.

Images via Oregon state police, Ochocho National Forest