Colorado State gov't warnings about eclipse traffic
Various Broadcast Stations and State Government agencies in Colorado, including the Colorado State Patrol, are issuing warnings about traffic on Interstate 25 and its subsidiaries from now through Tuesday, August 22 2017.
Television station KKTV in Colorado Springs is recommending, along with CSP, that eclipse travelers carry extra food and water in their vehicles and maintain full tanks of fuel. My sources in southwestern Nebraska, in the path of totality, tell me that profiteers have already appeared to sell gasoline to the stranded for $10 a gallon, and that other price gouging has been observed -- and the eclipse crowds aren't even there yet.
Although not yet present in any online report I can find, KKTV reported in their noon news report today that the traffic jam expected could easily be equal to six Denver Broncos games all ending at the same time. (!) Estimates of the eclipse crowds have risen to the point where the population of Wyoming is expected to more than double because of them; and nearly all that traffic will pass through Colorado.
Eclipse related links:
Colorado State Patrol website
Eclipse -- where and when
another "where and when" site for the eclipse
The American Eclipse Traffic Jam???
Comments
I'm staying home!
In Colorado Springs, Colorado, I'm already in an estimated 92% - 95% occlusion zone. What I'll be able to see of the eclipse will be just fine from where I am.
I do NOT feel like competing with all these hundreds of thousands of other people for a spot in the totality!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
I wonder how many people will go blind from the eclipse
Either by being scammed into buying the wrong glasses or just by being dumb.
Beware the bullshit factories.
wrong glasses
capitalization adjusted for format change
Anyone knowingly distributing unsafe glasses for this purpose should, in my own humble opinion, be taken out and shot. Or blinded and tossed out into the middle of some Interstate Highway somewhere.
Fortunately for such evildoers, that pesky Eighth Amendment to the Federal Constitution (cruel and unusual punishment) doesn't permit that!
As for fuckers just being dumb, KKTV carried an interview with one such person in the same broadcast as the "six Broncos games" remark (noon MDT today). Other broadcast and Internet outlets are repeating the warnings. So if someone wants to be that dumb anyway......
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
They won't go totally blind if they look at the sun
during the eclipse or at any other time. They could possibly lose their central vision permanently.
This is called solar retinopathy
This is a photo of left eye. The round thing on the right is called an optic disc and this is where all of the visual information exits the eye and goes to the brain for interpretation.
The area in the center is called the macula which is the area that is responsible for reading vision and recognizing faces and so on.
I'm sure people will have experienced this type of visual problem after a picture was taken with a flash. This didn't last more than a minute or less.
If this happened to only one eye, people's brains would find a way to adjust to this visual defect. If it happened to both eyes, the effects would be permanent.
People from California who are going to Oregon to watch the eclipse are experiencing traffic nightmares .
I got the date confused and thought it was happening last Sunday. Imagine my surprise when it didn't happen and the media didn't report on it.
Doh!
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
nightmares
So it has begun.
Denver is NOT rigged to handle six Broncos games at the same time.
Your humble scribe is glad he's staying home!
"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar
"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides
Traffic jams so far are only in that one area.
they are having an eclipse festival and the highway in is one lane each direction. Other highways and interstates were not yet clogged as of last night. That may well change over the weekend.
I live in the path of the total eclipse
Brevard, NC is in the path of 100%. We will get a little over one minute of totality while parts in the more remote western part of the county will get over two minutes of totality.
Brevard is a town of less than 8,000 people with about 33K in the entire Transylvania County. Everyone is preparing for a tourist Armageddon. While we are basically a tourist community due to our world renown music center and the most waterfalls of any location in the United States, we are not equipped to handle a large influx of people for one day. Lyle Lovett had a concert last night that sold out the entire 2,000 seat music center concert hall, but that is nothing compared to the eclipse.
We are being told to prepare as if for large snow event with somewhere between an additional 10,000 to as many as 100K people coming to view the eclipse. Eclipse glasses sold out a couple of weeks ago. It is already proving to be an economic boon with people arriving on Friday. All the restaurants downtown were packed. There is supposed to be an eclipse party the morning of the event in the down town with free Moon Pies being given out. The eclipse will begin shortly after 1 pm with totality around 2:37 pm. Eclipse banners decorate the downtown district and tee shirts with one of our famous white squirrels against the background of the eclipse are being sold.
My husband and I plan on walking to downtown to see the eclipse and hopefully to get a free Moon Pie. The view will be much better than from our yard which is wooded. It will be like a festival atmosphere. And yes, the signs warning of traffic congestion are all over the place around here too.
Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy