Letter: A little more planning could have eased eclipse traffic

To paraphrase a line from a famous election saying: “For the lack of ONE trooper, an ‘escape’ route was lost.”

I’m referring to providing an adequate, alternate, north-bound route to the one-lane I-82 bridge over the Columbia River from Oregon on Eclipse Day. Our Washington State Patrol and Walla Walla County Sheriff’s Department miserably failed us total eclipse viewers returning from Eastern Oregon.

A single law enforcement officer at the Wallula intersection of highways 730 and 12 would have prevented a multi-mile backup at that junction. How? Simply by overriding the problem-causing stop sign, and allowing us continuous right-of-way except when much lighter through traffic on U.S. 12 needed passage.

This is a textbook example of a major lack of planning and communication by our law enforcement agencies. I’m certain many other drivers captured by this snafu will agree.

This story was originally published September 6, 2017 at 3:52 PM with the headline "Letter: A little more planning could have eased eclipse traffic."