Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Spokesman Keith Todd says travelers should bring “a five gallon bucket of patience” when coming to see the total solar eclipse.
KYTC is making final preparations for the natural phenomenon now only six days away. Todd says people from 45 states are expected to come to the region and the number of visitors is steadily increasing. He urges people to not park on the shoulders of roadways to watch the eclipse.
“We’ll have lots of message boards up that will essentially say ‘Heavy eclipse event traffic ahead, be prepared to stop, no parking on shoulder.’ Because when people pull off and start parking on the shoulder they tend to slow down other traffic on the road, they become a safety hazard,” said Todd.
Todd says visitors should instead park in a city or state park with accessible facilities nearby, like restrooms and food sources. KYTC is working with the National Weather Service in Paducah to keep track of the weather for Monday's eclipse. Todd says they are predicting mostly sunny skies with temperatures in the upper 80's which could create heat-related issues such as heat strokes and heat exhaustion.
More travel tips can be found at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's website.
