Many eclipse visitors in northern New England pulled an all-nighter trying to leave

FRANCE, NH — Thousands of visitors from communities in northern New England who were in the path of the total solar eclipse were told to be patient for the journey. In some areas it took them up to twelve hours after the start of the event, as they slowly made their way back home along busy highways and secondary roads.

In New Hampshire, travelers were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for most of Tuesday morning around 2 a.m., clogging southbound Interstate 93. Southbound Interstate 89 was also busy Monday evening. Southbound traffic was backed up on US Highway 1 in Houlton, Maine.

New England had clear skies and mild weather on Monday, making for ideal viewing conditions overall. In New Hampshire, people flocked to places like Lancaster, Stewartstown, Colebrook and Pittsburg, near the Canadian border.

John Martin, visiting from Massachusetts, described it as a “crawl and crawl” near Franconia, where New Hampshire Route 3 meets the highway.

“You look at your GPS and try to get off 93 to find something faster, and everyone else was thinking the same thing,” he told WMUR-TV.

New Hampshire state officials had warned travelers that the return could be slow and encouraged people to stay a while in the area, which normally sees most tourists during the summer and fall seasons.

“For our friends visiting from out of state, remember, there is no sales tax in NH, so feel free to stay a little longer!” Governor Chris Sununu said this on Friday.

Traffic also came to a standstill in other states.

In Paducah, Kentucky, which was in the path of totality, thousands of people, along with communities to the west in Illinois, crossed the Ohio River after viewing the solar eclipse. Post-eclipse traffic also moved very slowly in places such as southbound Interstate 65 in southern Indiana, and southbound Interstate 81 in New York and Pennsylvania.