Despite the cloudy weather forecasted for the day of the upcoming total solar eclipse, hopes and plans are still riding high in Dallas.
Officials have been prepping for the celestial event as a large number of tourists are expected to flood the area.
Deputy City Manager Jon Fortune sent a memo to Dallas City Council members outlining officials’ plans for the eclipse, as reported by WFAA.
A top issue featured in the plans was the prospective traffic due to the influx of people expected to be traveling in and out of the city.
According to the memo, Dallas hotels are 99% booked for April 5-9. Fortune also noted that officials expect to see a 35% increase in visitors, as well as “possibly hundreds of events throughout the city.” He wrote that some 8,000 people alone are expected to attend the eclipse viewing event at Samuell Farm.
The Dallas Police Department is “actively engaging with partners to draft a traffic management plan,” Fortune wrote in the memo. Highways are expected to be “heavily impacted,” particularly in the afternoon hours.
Travis Houston, director of the Office of Emergency Management, echoed these concerns and encouraged those in Dallas to make preparations of their own ahead of the eclipse.
“The number one thing I want people to know is that they need to make a plan for what they’re going to do that day. Even if they’re not out to enjoy the eclipse, if they are out and about that day, then they might experience some traffic issues,” Houston told CBS News Texas.
Another issue raised in Fortune’s memo was that of trash services. There will be no pick-ups on Monday due to the expected traffic issues. Any residents on a Monday pick-up schedule can expect their solid waste to be collected on Tuesday instead, per the memo.
It is unknown whether the latest weather forecast for Dallas will impact the number of visitors. As of April 5, the National Weather Service in Fort Worth predicted that severe storms would roll into the region on Tuesday and Wednesday. For now, meteorologists do not expect the thick cloud cover preceding these storms to offer the most optimal view of the eclipse on Monday.
For a list of eclipse viewing events in Dallas, check out this previously written article by The Dallas Express.