Update: Prineville traffic rerouted due to concert traffic jams
(Update: City, county, ODOT rerouting traffic on ‘back way’ to concert)
Thousands of festival-goers heading to Big Summit Prairie have been traveling through Prineville since Wednesday, causing traffic backups of 15 to 30 miles east of town, according to authorities.
Oregon State Police reported late Wednesday a 30-mile backup from the concert site, where 30,000 or more people are expected to attend the weekend event that begins Thursday.
A decision came at midday Thursday to reroute traffic in an effort to keep things moving:
Because of the heavy traffic traveling east through Prineville along Highway 26, Crook County Sheriff and Prineville Police Department working in conjunction with ODOT will be rerouting traffic south on Combs Flat, on the east end of Prineville, from Third Street out to Paulina Highway. This is the back way to Big Summit Prairie.
Residents still needing to travel east on Highway 26 should access using Laughlin and expect delays.
Traffic will continue to be rerouted until Highway 26 is no longer backed up.
Here’s the news release issued earlier Thursday morning by Crook County:
Traffic has been extremely heavy traveling east through Prineville since Wednesday, August 16 th . We saw an increase in congestion later in the day yesterday with traffic traveling East toward Big Summit Prairie. Already today traffic is heavy from just west of Prineville headed east through town.
County operations and Law Enforcement is working with County Emergency Management, Fire and EMS as well as the Road Department and ODOT to mitigate the impact to our community.
Crook County Sheriff, City of Prineville and Crook County Court strongly urge travelers who do not need to travel today or early on Friday please consider delaying your journey. Traffic later on Friday the 18 th and over the weekend is expected to still be heavy but moving better as most of the attendees of the event at Big Summit Prairie will have already arrived at their destination.
If you do need to travel today or Friday please be aware of the higher than normal traffic and congestion through Crook County and plan accordingly for your trip with extra water and snacks. With the high temperatures our region is expecting plan to stay hydrated. Practicing patience will help make your journey more enjoyable.
With the heavy traffic in Prineville and through Crook County, the city will be resetting the street lights to favor the east /westbound traffic. This will allow traffic to have better flow through town.
We urge travelers with destinations north or south to practice patience and whenever possible try and use a street with a traffic light to cross Third Street in town.
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