DALLAS — The total solar eclipse forecast isn't looking all that great, with cloudy conditions expected to put a damper on viewing conditions. Still, that likely won't stop eclipse seekers from coming to (or through) Dallas, the largest city in the path of the eclipse totality.
And we're getting a clearer look at what city officials are expecting ahead of the Monday, April 8, event.
In a memo to Dallas city council members Friday, deputy city manager Jon Fortune outlined the latest preparations the city is taking for the surge of visitors due to the eclipse.
The main impact residents will notice will be the city's trash pickup schedule. The city is suspending all trash pickup for Monday, April 8, "due to law enforcement's expectation of severe traffic impacts to freeways and other major arterials which are essential for transporting solid waste to disposal sites," the memo said.
Anyone who's on a Monday trash pickup schedule will get their pickup delayed until Tuesday.
Estimates have varied on how many people are expected to come to North Texas for the eclipse. Before the forecast concerns, numbers in the range of hundreds of thousands of people were thrown out as a possibility. It's not yet clear if those numbers will be less, as eclipse seekers flock to sunnier areas along the path of the totality.
Still, Dallas city officials say downtown Dallas hotels are 99% sold out for April 5-9, according to Fortune's memo. The city expects a 35% increase in visitors, along with "possibly hundreds of events throughout the city," the memo said.
The one event noted in Fortune's memo was the expected activity at Samuell Farm, a City of Dallas park located in the Mesquite area. Fortune said the city expects up to 8,000 people to visit the park for the eclipse, including people who stay overnight. The city is also expecting more visitors to White Rock Lake, Bachman Lake, Kiest Park, Samuell Grand Park and Cedar Ridge Preserve.
Traffic has been the main concern raised by officials throughout Texas, and that's among the concerns in Dallas, too.
Fortune's memo said the Dallas Police Department is "actively engaging with partners to draft a traffic management plan" to ensure key infrastructure like hospitals and highway systems can still be accessed. Police are expecting highways to be "heavily impacted" by eclipse visitors, especially in the afternoon hours, Fortune said.
Some Texas officials have gone as far as to declare a state of emergency ahead of the eclipse. That's what Kaufman County officials east of Dallas did last week, aiming to free up more resources "to adequately protect the citizens of Kaufman County," County Judge Jakie Allen said.
Kaufman County officials said they expected around 200,000 visitors to the county for the eclipse viewing.