--- description: The solar eclipse won't take place until Aug. 21, but Oregon has already experienced a serious eclipse-related traffic jam. title: Here's a Preview of the Solar Eclipse Traffic Nightmare image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta60339d287082054/6988da31cf40a87668c4905a/eclipse-traffic-oregon-highway-26-prineville.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [solar eclipse](/tag/solar-eclipse/) ## solar eclipse Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Here's a Preview of the Solar Eclipse Traffic Nightmare  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 17, 2017 10:13 PM CUT  Oregon State Police photographed the stretch of traffic that held people for at least an hour and a half. Oregon State Police photographed the stretch of traffic that held people for at least an hour and a half.@ORStatePolice via Twitter  by [Julia Zorthian](/author/julia-zorthian/)  ## Julia Zorthian Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 17, 2017 10:13 PM CUT The solar eclipse won’t take place until Aug. 21, but Oregon has already experienced a serious eclipse-related traffic jam. A narrow stretch of U.S. Highway 26 had a line of 20 to 30 miles of traffic on Thursday for a single eclipse event, Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) spokesperson Dave Thompson tells TIME, until officials helped clear the jam. The Oregon State Police [tweeted out formidable photos](https://twitter.com/ORStatePolice/status/898283672536719360 "undefined") of the endless stretch of cars, taken from above on its fish and wildlife plane. > [](https://twitter.com/ORStatePolice/status/898283672536719360) Thompson said an event that began Thursday and is expecting 30,000 people was letting cars enter in a way that caused a bottleneck and backed up Highway 26 east of Prineville, Ore. ODOT sent out a maintenance district manager to the event, [the Symbiosis Gathering](https://www.facebook.com/SymbiosisGathering/ "undefined"), and cleared up the traffic issue by Thursday afternoon. “Luckily we got there fast,” Thompson says. > [](https://twitter.com/OchocoNatForest/status/898267760915996672) **Read more:** [‘Biggest Driver Distraction of the Century.’ Officials Brace for a Solar Eclipse Traffic Nightmare](http://time.com/4878968/total-solar-eclipse-2017-traffic/ "undefined") Cars were backed up for a couple of hours at most before the traffic dissipated — but it’s only the beginning of a long weekend for which Oregon has been bracing itself. “That’s exactly how this sort of thing will work leading up to the eclipse,” Thompson adds. “All of a sudden there will be a backup, and all of sudden it’ll be gone.” Much like the eclipse itself. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4905851/solar-eclipse-traffic-preview-oregon/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4905851/solar-eclipse-traffic-preview-oregon/"},"headline":"Here's a Preview of the Solar Eclipse Traffic Nightmare","datePublished":"2017-08-17T22:13:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T17:03:22.138Z","description":"The backup in Oregon was between 20 and 30 miles long","url":"https://time.com/4905851/solar-eclipse-traffic-preview-oregon/","keywords":["solar eclipse","photography","onetime","Science","space 2017"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta60339d287082054/6988da31cf40a87668c4905a/eclipse-traffic-oregon-highway-26-prineville.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Julia Zorthian","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/julia-zorthian/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta60339d287082054/6988da31cf40a87668c4905a/eclipse-traffic-oregon-highway-26-prineville.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"eclipse-traffic-oregon-highway-26-prineville","caption":"eclipse-traffic-oregon-highway-26-prineville","creditText":"@ORStatePolice via Twitter","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/solar-eclipse/","name":"solar eclipse"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4905851/solar-eclipse-traffic-preview-oregon/","name":"Here's a Preview of the Solar Eclipse Traffic Nightmare"}}]}] ```