Eclipse traffic is already awful and we’re still four days away

If you didn’t believe the warnings about traffic nightmares leading up to the total solar eclipse that occur in Oregon on Monday morning, you’ll want to see this.

Oregon State Police tweeted a photo late Wednesday night of a 30-mile-long backup near Prineville, Oregon. Another tweet from the Ochoco National Forest showed people standing on the shoulder of a highway because traffic wasn’t going anywhere.

Earlier in the day state police tweeted about heavy traffic in La Pine, Oregon.

Approximately 30,000 were expected to attend a five-day Symbiosis Gathering in Big Summit Prairie, which likely brought the first wave of eclipse watchers to rural highways near Prineville.

"We're the last town that people would go through to arrive at that event," Casey Kaiser, executive director of the Prineville and Crook County Chamber of Commerce, told oregonlive.com.

The Bend Bulletin reports on businesses stocking up on alcoholic beverages before the big day and calls for water conservation as 200,000 visitors are expected to pour into Central Oregon.

Some gas stations in Bend ran out of gas and diesel on Wednesday, while others had long lines, according to KTVZ.

Washington transportation officials have been warning drivers for weeks not to wait until Monday morning to drive down to Oregon. The AP reports that expected choke points on the roads include the Interstate 5 and Interstate 205 bridges that connect Vancouver, Washington, and Portland, Oregon; U.S. 97 into Klickitat County; the Lewis and Clark Bridge between Longview, Washington, and Rainier, Oregon; and U.S. 101 from Ilwaco, Washington to Astoria, Oregon.

Thinking of staying home? The view in Olympia will be close, but no corona. But you’ll have company seeing the 94 percent partial eclipse if you head down to the Washington State Library, 6880 Capitol Blvd. SE, Tumwater, where a free event will run from 8:30 a.m. to noon.

This story was originally published August 17, 2017 at 8:33 AM with the headline "Eclipse traffic is already awful and we’re still four days away."