RAY BROOK — The State Police will be out en force for the total eclipse event in the area on April 8, and they, like many other agencies, have one strong message:
“The biggest thing will be traffic and there’s nothing we can do to speed the traffic up,” State Police Troop B Commander Maj. Brent Davison said recently.
“If we can recommend one thing, it is for people to stay the night of the eclipse because of the potential backup of traffic.”
PATH OF TOTALITY
The eclipse is set to occur around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, April 8, and it is expected to last about three or four minutes when the sun will be blotted out by the moon and there will be total darkness.
Plattsburgh, and the immediately surrounding area, will be directly in the path of totality and is considered one of the best places to watch the eclipse. That means that hordes of people are expected to visit the area for a chance to watch the event.
Davison said State Police have been planning for months with other agencies and they will be ready.
HEAVY TRAFFIC
Knowing from other similar events in recent years in other communities where traffic was backed up for six to 10 hours in some places, Davison said they are preparing for such traffic volume here.
But there is only so much they can do.
“Because of the potential backup, we recommend people fill up (with gasoline) up the day before the eclipse, having extra food and water in their vehicles, having their cell phone chargers, and if they do plan on leaving after the eclipse, they should plan on being in traffic for hours, and there’s nothing we can do about that,” Davison said.
There will be extra troopers on duty to help monitor traffic and be ready in case there is an accident or incident.
“We’re going to have all the additional troopers prepared to respond to crashes that may occur to speed up the response and to bypass any areas that have issues, but we only have so many highways that go in and out of the area,” Davison said.
“We can’t can’t change the normal traffic pattern so that’s why we certainly recommend that people try to spend the night the night of the eclipse if they can. and if they choose not to, then they should prepare for long waits of traffic.”
UNIFORM POLICE PRESENCE
In addition to monitoring traffic, Davison said the goal of the State Police is to provide a, “uniform police presence and a safe environment for spectators and the local residents for the upcoming eclipse.”
There will also be some undercover counterterrorism measures in place, Davison said, that are deployed for any kind of large gatherings and threat assessments will be done.
“So if need be, we’ll provide crowd control, but our biggest thing is the traffic and there’s nothing we can do to speed up the traffic,” he said.
There will also be troopers positioned in areas they believe could have high concentrations of people and in areas along the interstate and other choke points where they believe people might be leaving the area.
There are some areas where police do expect larger numbers of visitors such as SUNY Plattsburgh and at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake.
“We just want people to be prepared that we’re going to be present,” Davison said.
“We want people to be able to view it safely, not only the people from outside of the area, our residents too. We don’t want our residents to be treated in any way negative.”
COMMAND POST
Troop B covers all of northern New York from Lake Champlain in the east to the St. Lawrence Seaway in the west. Davison said they will have marine patrols for the waterways and utility vehicles and snowmobiles, depending on the weather, and drones at the ready if need be.
A communication command post will also be set up at Troop B headquarters in Ray Brook to allow for communications should cell towers be overwhelmed.
“We’ll have the ATVs in case we need to assist somewhere people get stranded out in the middle of nowhere and can’t get to them,” Davison said.
“Basically any resource that we have will be available,” Davison said.