From 'epic' to 'surreal': Phenomenon revelers caught in a solar snare
Apr. 9—Ten hours after departing Pittsburg, where he witnessed the total solar eclipse, Kevin Smith arrived home at 2:15 a.m. Tuesday.
"I would describe the eclipse as epic and the traffic as surreal," the former Londonderry town manager said Tuesday. "Would do it again in a heartbeat."
He wasn't alone.
"Everyone came home on Monday night," said Department of Transportation spokesman Richard Arcand.
"The numbers were just huge," he said.
"It appears the destination was Lancaster and Colebrook and everyone stayed on that path up and down (Interstate) 93. That kind of contributed to the bottleneck and the delays through Franconia Notch."
GPS was directing many people off Interstate 93 then back on. Others couldn't get their GPS to work.
"People were getting off and going two miles and getting back on," Arcand said. DOT used some trucks to block certain exits.
"Otherwise, there'd just be a jam-up down the road," Arcand said.
"The NHDOT did temporarily close access to Route 18 in Franconia at Exits 39 and 38 because southbound motorists were impacting Franconia Village, then trying to merge back onto I-93 near Echo Lake at Exit 34-C, which further slowed the I-93 southbound traffic," Arcand said in a follow-up email.
"We considered using the northbound side, but I-93 in the Notch is only one lane near Echo Lake," he said.
Anne-Marie Armstrong took four hours to reach Lancaster from her Massachusetts home Monday morning to view the eclipse. It took her 8 1/2 hours to get home.
"By the time I got in, it was 22 hours (after she left her house), but I would do it again in a heartbeat," the Scituate resident said.
Some posters to Reddit shared their frustration.
"Worst traffic of my life. At one point it took well over an hour to move less than a mile. Took me eight hours to get back to Boston from just north of Mt. Washington," one person wrote.
"I didn't even know traffic could exist in such a state. Kids walking dogs. People parking to get out and stretch while still in a lane," a second posted.
Others weighed the benefits against the traffic.
"I was in a car for 12 hours to watch totality for 1.5 mins. Totally ... worth it," wrote a third.
Last week, Gov. Chris Sununu told people traveling to see the eclipse "to pack their patience."
Armstrong said "everyone was patient" on the road that she saw.
Some people planned ahead.
Manchester couple Jane and Chris Haigh booked a room at the Franconia Inn for Sunday and Monday nights.
"We were worried about the traffic," Jane Haigh said.
The Haighs cross-country-skiied in the area Sunday and took in the eclipse Monday.
Smith understands how the huge crowds leaving at once could overwhelm the road system.
"It's literally a once-in-a lifetime event," he said.
You don't build infrastructure to handle "a one-time event that will probably never occur like that again," he said. "In hindsight, it makes you wonder if there was a better way to divert or reroute traffic."
