Wyoming Traffic Count Up By 74,000 Vehicles On Friday
Even though the solar eclipse that is expected to draw huge crowds to Wyoming isn;t until Monday, state roads and highways are already seeing the impact, according to a spokesman for the Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT).
Doug McGee says traffic counts on Friday showed an increase of 74,000 vehicles compared to the five-year average for the third Friday of August in Wyoming.
McGee says that while the increased traffic is spread across the state, so far Teton, Sweetwater, and Uinta counties are seeing the biggest increases in traffic. That shows the biggest influx of early visitors is coming from states to the west and southwest of the state.
The biggest increases in traffic so far are showing up on smaller highways as opposed to the big interstate highways, according to McGee. He says so far 'things are still flowing smoothly'' in terms of traffic in the state.
The Wyoming Highway Patrol has already been busy as well, according to Sgt. Kyle Mckay. He says troopers were involved in 1,498 traffic "events" on Friday, a number he called "extremely high." That was more than double the 617 events troopers handled on the third Friday in August of 2016. Events include anything that involves the patrol, from writing tickets to investigating crashes or traffic complaints.
But even though troopers were busy, the good news is that there were only 32 crashes on Friday, compared to 27 in 2016. None of the crashes yesterday caused serious injuries or road closures, according to Mckay.