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WACO, Texas (KWTX) - If you’ve been driving around Waco then you may have seen new I-35 signs pointing away from the highway, leaving many residents confused.

City leaders tell KWTX they intentionally did this to better control traffic and keep people safe during the eclipse.

McLennan County Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Dirker says traffic engineers created alternate routes to lessen traffic going to I-35.

Instead of people taking side streets, these I-35 signs point to Highway 84, Waco Drive, Lake Shore Drive, Highway 6 and Loop 340.

“Those being the major roads through the city being that we can move the most amount of people,” Dirker said. “So, while those signs may say to 35, they’re not going directly to 35. They’re going to one of those points which can funnel people out in a more controlled manner.”

Without these alternate routes, Dirker says drivers could find themselves frustrated behind the wheel.

“On some of these roads, if we put a sign that said, ‘To 35,’ that went directly to 35, it could put you in the middle of a neighborhood with the speed limit being 20 mph and a two-lane road,” Dirker said. “If hundreds of people tried to do that, it would cause major congestion problems within the city.”

While the city is trying to keep everyone safe during the eclipse, it also asks drivers to be patient.

“Waco is a popular place for this,” Dirker said. “We might have to have—we ask the public to exercise a little bit of tactical patience as people are in and enjoying our community. We’re going to make sure we do whatever we can to make those impacts as little as possible.”

Dirker says the city plans to remove the signs sometime after the eclipse on April 8.