Feb. 21—PLATTSBURGH — State officials are encouraging those who plan to travel here for the solar eclipse in April to “come early and stay late.”

“Don’t just come for the three and a half minutes of the eclipse,” State Homeland Security Commissioner Jackie Bray said.

“Plattsburgh is a beautiful place. The North Country, the Adirondacks are a beautiful place. Come a day early, stay a day late; come two days early, stay two days late. Don’t assume that you’re just going to drive in and drive out. That’s the first thing, and frankly, the most important message that we’re communicating.”

PATH OF TOTALITY

Bray is expecting hundreds of thousands of people to visit New York for the April 8th solar eclipse.

Though Plattsburgh will likely be a more attractive destination than most due to it being in the solar eclipse’s path of totality, where spectators will get the best view and see the moon totally block the sun.

“There is going to be a lot of people here,” Bray said.

However, Plattsburgh will be competing for visitors against other statewide areas like Buffalo, which is also in the path of totality.

PREPARATIONS

Now, less than 50 days away from the big event, the state’s preparation work is starting to unfold.

Bray said the state has long been aware of the challenges a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle like the solar eclipse may bring — specifically to more rural areas such as Plattsburgh — and made sure to plan ahead for several scenarios.

“It’s not the lead-up, it’s not the event,” she said, “it’s how do you get that many people in and out of areas that are not used to that many cars, that many people?”

One fear is that gridlock could be seen, as it has in previous solar eclipse events around the country.

“Gridlock like people get stuck on the roads to the point where we’re using ATVs to deliver water and food and check on people. That’s what we’re really working to avoid,” Bray said.

“We have been planning for this eclipse for literally a year. We’re ready. We’re going to surge resources to direct traffic and clear stuff out.”

Locally, Bray said the state is also preparing to deploy communications equipment around the Adirondacks to lessen the dead zone areas for public safety communication.

“We’re planning regional ops centers, and we have been working out for months, sort of finalizing what state resources we need to deploy to support our locals.”

GAS

She said an area of concern statewide is gas stations.

Bray said there was an incident at a previous solar eclipse event where a gas station had run out of gas.

“One of the things that we’ve asked our partners in the private sector to do is make sure all those gas stations are fully stocked,” she said.

“Many of our gas stations only stay half full on a normal day, so we’re saying ‘this is not a normal day. Fill up, make sure the gas stations are full.'”

Downstate, other areas of concern are centered around making sure there’s enough accessible bathrooms for travelers.

“Some of our Thruway rest stops are not yet rebuilt and … we have to make sure there’s enough bathrooms, make sure we’ve got enough traffic control, make sure that all those cars can get gas,” Bray said.

“The thing we want is for people to come early and stay late, but … we know that (if) hundreds of thousands people won’t do that, we will be ready.”

WEATHER FACTOR

The timing of the solar eclipse, especially here in the North Country, could present additional weather challenges.

Bray acknowledged that early April could be spring weather — which would be ideal — or it could be winter weather still.

“It’s one thing to have an extra half a million, million … people (come here). It’s a whole other thing to have that during a (potential) storm,” she said.

“However, what I’m learning in this job is that there is not a season in New York that we don’t have a threat of a storm … if I could move the cosmos, I might move it (solar eclipse) to May, but April’s as good a month as any.”

Email: cnewton@pressrepublican.com

Twitter: CarlySNewton