Wood County as a whole did an outstanding job in its handling of Monday’s eclipse.
“For several years, we worked with the community leaders, first responders, various clubs, organizations and the general public,” said Wood County Emergency Management Agency Director Jeff Klein on Tuesday. “We gave them an overview of what happened in 2017 and what steps they can take to make sure that does not happen to Wood County. And they did just that.”
Klein said an employee was monitoring the Waze traffic app that showed that drivers did not migrate off Interstate 75 to lesser routes to avoid traffic.
“I was anticipating Bowling Green to be a lot worse, and it didn’t happen,” he said.
It couldn’t have gone better, said Bowling Green Police Division Chief Tony Hetrick. The roundabouts were put to the test on the east end of town but handled the traffic very well.
The only issue in Bowling Green was that traffic backed up on East Wooster Street for a short period of time when people were leaving, according to BGPD Lt. Dan Mancuso.
“I received several positive comments throughout the evening about how safe people felt viewing the eclipse in our community. I believe that the lack of incidents was a direct result of all the planning that took place leading up to the event,” said Bowling Green Mayor Mike Aspacher.
Klein said he thought people listened to the “come early, stay late” advice because there wasn’t a lot of traffic.
Southbound traffic on I-75 after the eclipse was over was dramatically higher than northbound, he said.
“It was interesting, we noticed people left in two waves, one immediately after the eclipse and a second group that left about two hours later,” Klein said. “They understood everyone leaving at once would create gridlock, which we were able to avoid. While there were a few accidents, we were able to prevent anything major.”
Ohio Highway Patrol Sgt. Ryan Purpura indicated troopers assisted 75 motorists and handled six crashes in Hancock, Wood and Lucas counties from 6 a.m. to midnight Monday.
“Motorists seemed to listen to the collective messaging of having a plan in place to watch the eclipse and not stop on the roadside,” he said.
Signs along routes north from Delaware and Lima urged drivers to not park on the side of the road.
“It seemed like people really paid attention to that,” Klein said.
The downtown businesses were busy with visitors from many different states.
“It was fun to chat with travelers from all over who enjoyed exploring our town before and after the eclipse,” said Kati Thompson, the city’s economic development director and owner of Eden Fashion Boutique.
According to Kristin Otley, Parks and Recreation Department director, the city’s parks were popular viewing sites. Carter Park was full about 40 minutes ahead of the eclipse and some cars were turned away. The Simpson parking lot was full, but folks parked at the hospital and side streets. Wintergarden was also full. City Park had a decent crowd as well.
All the planning in the last year helped everything go smoothly and those preparations eliminated a lot of the potential problems, Klein said.
The communities all stepped up, including putting portable bathrooms out for travelers, he said.
“Those are the little things that go sight unseen that had they not done that, it would have been a totally different story,” Klein said.
“That’s the cool thing about Wood County. Everybody went above and beyond and said, ‘let’s do this right and make sure it’s a good event,’” he said.
‘That’s the cool thing about Wood County. Everybody went above and beyond and said, ‘let’s do this right and make sure it’s a good event.”
Jeff Klein
Wood County Emergency Management Agency Director
