Our Chicago: Travel Tips for the 2024 Great American Total Solar Eclipse in Southern Illinois and Indiana and Dealing with Massive Crowds

CHICAGO (WLS) — After years of waiting, the so-called Great American Solar Eclipse of 2024 is just hours away.

It will pass from Mexico to the United States, then to Canada, before setting sail.

Parts of Illinois and Indiana are in the 185-mile-wide path of totality, which is the area where the moon blocks the sun 100 percent.

The path includes Carbondale, which was also in the path of totality in 2017. Many people go there, including a group from the Adler Planetarium.

“It’s so exciting for us to all be real astronomy geeks,” said Dr. Geza Gyuk, director of astronomy at the Alder Planetarium.

He was near Carbondale for the 2017 eclipse.

“It's just, it's supernatural, it's just wonderful and such an experience because the quality of the light as the totality approaches it starts to get strange, and there's strange shadow patterns on the ground. And then totality appears and there's this kind of wonderful thing in the sky,” Gyuk said. “You never feel anything like an eclipse, well it's an eclipse, it feels like a sunset all around you 360 degrees. The birds stop singing, it gets dark, you can see stars in the sky. It's very strange.”

ABC News reports that the total solar eclipse is expected to be the largest mass travel event this year in the United States.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb declared a state of emergency, expecting massive crowds. Between 100,000 and 200,000 people are expected in the prime viewing area of ​​southern Illinois.

Quite a few of them will be coming from the Chicago area, but before people get in the car and head south, the Illinois Department of Transportation has some tips.

Maria Castaneda, a spokesperson for IDOT, says people need to think of it like any trip.

“Plan ahead, map out your route, make sure you nail down the route you’re going to take,” she said. “Also use various travel apps.”

There are different ways to head south.

“I know I-57, if you're going here from Chicago, is a pretty direct route, but you can also take I-55 and connect with 64,” Castaneda said. “It really depends on where you're going, what route you're going to take. Give yourself a lot of extra time, because there will be big crowds, so it's going to take you a lot longer than your normal trip, if you're typically driving in southern Illinois. And if you're not and you're not aware of it, then you definitely need to give yourself some extra time because you're going to an area you're not familiar with not very well. “.

Not only will there be people on the road south, but also on the way back.

“Plan to stay a little while. There are some beautiful areas to see. Enjoy what southern Illinois has to offer,” Castaneda said. “Maybe go a little later than planned and you might be able to avoid some of the really big crowds.”