BPD Lieutenant Lucas Tate said over email that the traffic and emergency calls in Bloomington were much lighter than expected on eclipse day.
Public safety officials estimated that 200-300,000 people would come to Bloomington for the April 8 total solar eclipse. Bloomington Police Department and Indiana State Police said they were working on all hands-on deck during the eclipse to control traffic and the expected increase in 911 calls according to previous IDS coverage.
BPD expected heavy traffic with the possibility of total gridlock in town and on I-69 for two to three hours after the eclipse ended, Tate said.
However, they did not experience any of the expected gridlock. Tate said officers only investigated five minor crashes between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., less than what he said BPD investigates on a normal weekday.
The number of people who visited Bloomington on Monday is still unknown. Bloomington Parks & Recreation, Visit Bloomington, the Office of the Mayor and city communications representatives did not respond to requests for comment on the total number of visitors.
