Editor’s note: This story Dallas Morning News coverage of the 2024 total solar eclipseFor more information dallasnews.com/eclipse.
Dallas city officials on Tuesday urged residents not to travel too far from their neighborhoods to view next Monday’s total solar eclipse in order to reduce road traffic disruptions.
But if you must travel, leave early for your destination, be prepared to stay late and avoid looking directly at the sun without protective eyewear, officials said.
“Start planning now for what you’re going to do by Monday,” Dallas Emergency Management Director Travis Houston said at a press conference Tuesday. “Now is the time to do it.”
Dallas city council members, city department chiefs and local agency officials urged residents to prepare for heavy traffic next week as North Texas sees its first total solar eclipse since 1878, drawing large numbers of tourists and hosting dozens of viewing events across the city.
Officials expect traffic jams on highways and other roads as people leave viewing locations en masse, especially in the late afternoon after the eclipse ends.
Officials say they expect tourists to start arriving in Dallas on Thursday or Friday.
Jennifer Walker, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, said she expects about 90% of the city’s roughly 35,000 hotel rooms to be booked by Monday.
Up to 450,000 visitors
Walker said early estimates suggest visitor numbers in Dallas could increase by as much as 35% during the event, reaching more than 450,000 people, though a more precise estimate may be available later on Monday.
“At the end of the day, we expect a lot of people to be in Dallas that day,” Houston said.
Motorists should not pull over or park on the roads to view the eclipse, according to Police Chief Eddie Garcia, who urged people to keep roads as clear as possible so emergency responders can reach service calls and hospitals.
Garcia said the police department has rescinded all discretionary leave requests granted in order to keep enough officers on duty.
“The Dallas Police Department presence will be visible on the roads and throughout the city,” Garcia said.
weather forecast
Dallas is one of the largest cities in North America in the path of the total solar eclipse, which covers a swath of land stretching northward including cities such as Indianapolis, Buffalo, New York, and Montreal.
In its initial forecast, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth said eclipse watchers could expect mostly cloudy skies in North Texas, and the city of Houston said Tuesday it expected weather conditions to become clearer as the weekend approached.
The moon is expected to begin covering the sun in Dallas around 12:23 p.m. Monday, with the total solar eclipse occurring at around 1:40 p.m. The full obscuration of the sun is expected to end about four minutes later, with the moon expected to move completely away from the sun at around 3:02 p.m.
The next total solar eclipse won’t occur in North Texas until 2317.
State of emergency declaration
Several Texas counties issued emergency declarations ahead of the eclipse in response to the potential strain on law enforcement and emergency management resources.
The Federal Aviation Administration warned that the rare event could cause travel delays at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and other airports. Nearly every rental car company in the Dallas area has either sold out of vehicles or raised rates above average.
City officials say they expect up to 8,000 people to attend the three-day festival at Samuel Farm, a city-owned, more than 600-acre community park in the Mesquite area.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is being touted as a special guest at Monday’s total solar eclipse event at Fair Park’s Cotton Bowl Stadium.
A pre-eclipse event will be held Sunday at Harwood Park in downtown Dallas, where people can do yoga with goats, and visitors are expected in other parts of the city, including Singing Hills Recreation Center, Keast Park, White Rock Lake, Dallas Botanical Garden and Bachman Lake.
City sanitation officials said trash and recycling collection will be canceled for residents next Monday due to expected traffic congestion. Collection will resume on Tuesday, but residents can expect it to be at least a day later than usual.
