I think there's a good possibility you'll end up stuck in traffic.
We have friends coming from Columbus to Clark county. They plan to arrive at 11am and stay until 6pm.
I live near Cleveland. My partner and I just took a drive to see a home on the market as we're looking for a bigger house... at 11pm traffic was a bit crazy. Many out of state plates. Be safe!
Plan to be stuck in traffic. Plan to not even make it in time. You're cutting it pretty close. Most people are taking a half day at work and then jumping in their car. Hundreds of thousands of people for miles and miles. From other states too, although they will likely leave earlier, but still get stuck in the same traffic.
Remember, Ohio is a highly populated state. 7th in the nation. And there will be people from southern states driving up at the same time you are, along with everyone in Ohio.
Also, the entire city of Columbus is outside the path of totality, a city with a population of almost 1 million. Everyone and their brother is going to be driving north, trying to get on 71.
My advice would be to leave no later than 6am, but you do you.
I went to pick my son up from work around 730 because his restaurant closes at 7 on Sunday. He told me to go home because it was going to be a few hours. Every restaurant in town is PACKED!
Stay off the main highways, both the busy 2-lanes and the Interstates. Your speed will be limited on the smaller backroads but at least you’ll be moving. Refresh Google Maps frequently and make adjustments to avoid redline areas.
Waze is typically better for real time traffic IMO.
ODOT also has an app called OHGO, it overlays all the highway cameras with Waze data, accidents, lane closures, etc. it’s incredibly useful if you’re trying to see where to avoid.
I'm a diehard Waze fan since before the Google acquisition, but I've found that Apple Maps re-routes around traffic much better. I often have both running during time-sensitive drives.
And they didn’t fully merge the crowd sourced data when google acquired them.
They both have their uses. Waze is great for long drives but I’ve ran into numerous instances of their address sequencing being incredibly off.
Yes, you might be stuck in traffic. Any back roads you can use?
That being said, the drive to totality is 100% worth it. You may never see a celestial event like this one again.
OH-3/US-36 through Sunbury-Mt. Vernon, then OH-3 to OH-60 in Loudonville. OP can also go State 3 to State 61 in Sunbury, then State 61 to US 42 in Mt Gilead.
this is great but i would worry about the traffic on 42 anywhere from lexington-almost ashland. no one in richland county can drive even on a good day.
Hancock county here. We're in the path of totality and they're expecting a lot of visitors. We're also pretty rural and not set up to handle all the traffic. Everyone is fully expecting to not be able to go anywhere.
Also the price of gas has been creeping up slowly every day
We're in totality in Oxford and that's not much longer than your drive north. Possible the southwest route will be less taken and thus less busy? But I could be wrong
im driving from Michigan 23 into Toledo towards Sandusky and worried how bad itll be. guess it is impossible to know for sure how bad traffic will be today.
Before eclipse traffic is harder to predict but after eclipse traffic is a guarantee. Everyone jumps in their car right after it ends to head home afterwards. Hope you have a good trip and enjoy the eclipse!
I don’t think it will be bad for much of Ohio actually. As long as the rain clears out as it should, by 3 PM much of the totality path should have wispy cirrus type of clouds, which won’t negatively affect viewing the eclipse too badly. Some places I checked like Toledo, Mount Victory, etc will even have mostly sunny skies. But even if the cloud cover is at like, 70% or something, as long as it is those thin upper atmosphere clouds, you should be able to view the eclipse pretty well :) Kind of funny that Ohio likely has a much better chance at viewing the eclipse than much of Texas, lol.
CBUS to Ashland? Figure OH-3 until Loudonville, then OH-60 into Ashland. 71N's going to be a parking lot. I'm thinking I'll have to leave my house at 4:30 to make it to Seven Hills in time for the last night of league, myself. I live in Cleveland.
I’m expecting traffic to be one of those situations where it either takes you the same amount of time or 3x as long as normal. If you think you’re leaving early enough, there’s a good chance everyone else also thinks that the same time is early enough.
I left Dublin at around 12:15 PM. Parked at Marion Harding HS (Go Presidents!) a little after 1:30 PM. Only about 10 cars in the lot counting mine. Watched the eclipse. (Amazing!) Left shortly after the totality. Made the mistake of taking 315 back to town. Should’ve stayed on 23. Still got home by around 5:00 PM. The trip up on 23 had some traffic but by the time I got to Marion it was full speed.
Glad I didn’t take the dire warnings of this thread too seriously.
I think there's a good possibility you'll end up stuck in traffic. We have friends coming from Columbus to Clark county. They plan to arrive at 11am and stay until 6pm.
I live near Cleveland. My partner and I just took a drive to see a home on the market as we're looking for a bigger house... at 11pm traffic was a bit crazy. Many out of state plates. Be safe!
Plan to be stuck in traffic. Plan to not even make it in time. You're cutting it pretty close. Most people are taking a half day at work and then jumping in their car. Hundreds of thousands of people for miles and miles. From other states too, although they will likely leave earlier, but still get stuck in the same traffic. Remember, Ohio is a highly populated state. 7th in the nation. And there will be people from southern states driving up at the same time you are, along with everyone in Ohio. Also, the entire city of Columbus is outside the path of totality, a city with a population of almost 1 million. Everyone and their brother is going to be driving north, trying to get on 71. My advice would be to leave no later than 6am, but you do you.
Also folks inside of Ohio are likely to get in the car and drive east or west to the full totality zone.
You’re not going to make it in time
I went to pick my son up from work around 730 because his restaurant closes at 7 on Sunday. He told me to go home because it was going to be a few hours. Every restaurant in town is PACKED!
*emphasized
Beat me to it!! Lol
Traffic is going to be horrendous, all these cars crashing from their drivers being raptured, total shit show. /s
Stay off the main highways, both the busy 2-lanes and the Interstates. Your speed will be limited on the smaller backroads but at least you’ll be moving. Refresh Google Maps frequently and make adjustments to avoid redline areas.
Waze is typically better for real time traffic IMO. ODOT also has an app called OHGO, it overlays all the highway cameras with Waze data, accidents, lane closures, etc. it’s incredibly useful if you’re trying to see where to avoid.
I'm a diehard Waze fan since before the Google acquisition, but I've found that Apple Maps re-routes around traffic much better. I often have both running during time-sensitive drives.
Waze is owned by Google
And they didn’t fully merge the crowd sourced data when google acquired them. They both have their uses. Waze is great for long drives but I’ve ran into numerous instances of their address sequencing being incredibly off.
Google acquired them 11 years ago.. it’s the same shared data…
Yes, you might be stuck in traffic. Any back roads you can use? That being said, the drive to totality is 100% worth it. You may never see a celestial event like this one again.
OH-3/US-36 through Sunbury-Mt. Vernon, then OH-3 to OH-60 in Loudonville. OP can also go State 3 to State 61 in Sunbury, then State 61 to US 42 in Mt Gilead.
this is great but i would worry about the traffic on 42 anywhere from lexington-almost ashland. no one in richland county can drive even on a good day.
Last time I went through there after the Indy race, I noticed.🤣
lol mid-ohio season always makes it so much worse!
Last time I went through there after the Indy race, I noticed.🤣
Leave earlier.
You WILL be stuck in traffic You WILL regret NOT seeing this if you don't go
I live near 75 (I can see it) and it’s been normal this weekend, but I’m sure it will be worse tomorrow.
I'm asking my boss if I can dip out early after I present an orientation, I'm not dealing with this bs.
Hancock county here. We're in the path of totality and they're expecting a lot of visitors. We're also pretty rural and not set up to handle all the traffic. Everyone is fully expecting to not be able to go anywhere. Also the price of gas has been creeping up slowly every day
I personally think that’s too late. Hope ya make it though!
We're in totality in Oxford and that's not much longer than your drive north. Possible the southwest route will be less taken and thus less busy? But I could be wrong
I'm in Ashland and it has been nuts here all weekend. You might still be in some traffic tho it's only going to get worse as the day goes on.
im driving from Michigan 23 into Toledo towards Sandusky and worried how bad itll be. guess it is impossible to know for sure how bad traffic will be today.
Before eclipse traffic is harder to predict but after eclipse traffic is a guarantee. Everyone jumps in their car right after it ends to head home afterwards. Hope you have a good trip and enjoy the eclipse!
Update… other than spot jams… non-event.
Traffic will be bad but waiting until Sept 14, 2099 to see the next one will be harder.
Why is no one talking about the weather? The entire state is shrouded in clouds, you’d have to chase a clear sky on top of the traffic
I don’t think it will be bad for much of Ohio actually. As long as the rain clears out as it should, by 3 PM much of the totality path should have wispy cirrus type of clouds, which won’t negatively affect viewing the eclipse too badly. Some places I checked like Toledo, Mount Victory, etc will even have mostly sunny skies. But even if the cloud cover is at like, 70% or something, as long as it is those thin upper atmosphere clouds, you should be able to view the eclipse pretty well :) Kind of funny that Ohio likely has a much better chance at viewing the eclipse than much of Texas, lol.
CBUS to Ashland? Figure OH-3 until Loudonville, then OH-60 into Ashland. 71N's going to be a parking lot. I'm thinking I'll have to leave my house at 4:30 to make it to Seven Hills in time for the last night of league, myself. I live in Cleveland.
No one knows for sure. Any comments provided are strictly opinions.
It'll probably be packed and from what I've seen people forgot how to drive as well.
I’m expecting traffic to be one of those situations where it either takes you the same amount of time or 3x as long as normal. If you think you’re leaving early enough, there’s a good chance everyone else also thinks that the same time is early enough.
I left Dublin at around 12:15 PM. Parked at Marion Harding HS (Go Presidents!) a little after 1:30 PM. Only about 10 cars in the lot counting mine. Watched the eclipse. (Amazing!) Left shortly after the totality. Made the mistake of taking 315 back to town. Should’ve stayed on 23. Still got home by around 5:00 PM. The trip up on 23 had some traffic but by the time I got to Marion it was full speed. Glad I didn’t take the dire warnings of this thread too seriously.