Eclipse concert crowds jam Prineville-area roadways

8/17/2017 (Permalink)

Eclipse 2017 Traffic Through Prineville, Oregon

PRINEVILLE, Ore. - Thousands of festival-goers heading to Big Summit Prairie have been traveling through Prineville since Wednesday, causing traffic backups of 15 to 30 miles east of town, according to authorities.

Oregon State Police reported late Wednesday a 30-mile backup from the concert site, where 30,000 or more people are expected to attend the weekend event that begins Thursday.

Here's a news release issued Thursday morning by Crook County:

Traffic has been extremely heavy traveling East through Prineville since Wednesday, August 16^th.  We saw an increase in congestion later in the day yesterday with traffic traveling East toward Big Summit Prairie.  Already today traffic is heavy from just west of Prineville headed east through town.

County operations and Law Enforcement is working with County Emergency Management, Fire and EMS as well as the Road Department and ODOT to mitigate the impact to our community.