FLASHBACK: Wyoming’s Biggest Traffic Jam That Didn’t Involve Wildlife
It's been almost four years since the Great American Eclipse took place on August 21st, 2017. The event made Casper a hotspot as we were listed as one of the best places (and often "the" best place), to view it.
Considering the total solar eclipse brought in over 261,000 out-of-state visitors (with an estimated 29,000 of those being international travelers), it's no one wonder traffic was so bad. At some points, it was at a standstill all the way to the Colorado border, which makes sense when you figure that's just shy of half of the state population (in 2017, our population was listed at 578,931).
YouTuber Laura G Young shared her footage of the eclipse traffic jam. He video was a nice switch, as she didn't complain at all. As a matter of fact, she thanked the residents of Torrington and Hawk Springs in the video's caption.
According to information gleaned from Wikipedia:
Prior to this event, no solar eclipse had been visible across the entirety of the United States since June 8, 1918; not since the February 1979 eclipse had a total eclipse been visible from anywhere in the mainland United States.
It is also worth noting that this total solar eclipse was the first one in America since the digital age (meaning smartphones and social media).
The Great American Eclipse will definitely go down in Casper history forever; bad traffic, milk and grocery shortages and all.