Impact of 2024 solar eclipse on national traffic mobility using connected vehicle data and images

Abstract

The path of totality for the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, passed through 13 states in the United States from Texas on the western end through Maine on the eastern end. This paper reports on the use of connected truck data to evaluate the impact of the solar eclipse on traffic mobility on Interstate routes in those thirteen states. Approximately 192 million connected truck data records from more than 240,000 trucks were systematically analyzed. Overall, eleven states (Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont) were observed to have a total week over increase in the number of mile hours of Interstate operating below 45 mph by 66%. The other two states, Texas and Oklahoma were observed to have an actual reduction in week over congestion during the eclipse by 35%. Indiana had the highest increase in congestion on eclipse day by 856 mile-hours and significant mobility impacts were observed the day before and the day after the eclipse as well. This was likely due to the number of large viewing events distributed across the region of totality. A combination of roadside ITS cameras and on-vehicle dash camera images were used to qualitatively assess the prevailing roadway conditions and provide context. In addition to demand induced congestion in areas within or adjacent to totality, the dash cameras identified a variety of unstructured roadside parking adjacent to or within areas of totality.