For about a month, Apple Maps was redirecting drivers heading eastbound along a stretch of I-90 toward Snoqualmie Pass onto a dirt road, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The problem started in early October, when WSDOT began work on a planned construction project, and lasted through Nov. 10, when Apple Maps appeared to have updated its route guidance. In the meantime, drivers were getting stuck and in need of a tow, WSDOT said.
WSDOT spokesperson Summer Derrey said the department emailed Apple several times to change the route, but hasn’t gotten a response.
“This is becoming a huge safety concern,” the department wrote in its most recent email on Nov. 2.
At the beginning of October, WSDOT moved to the next phase of its ongoing project to widen I-90 from four to six lanes between Hyak and Easton, in Kittitas County. To do so, contractor crews shifted eastbound traffic to the westbound side of the freeway between mileposts 68 and 70.
The change, which keeps two lanes of traffic in both directions, will be in place for the next several years, WSDOT said in its October announcement.
Mapping and GPS services started rerouting drivers away from that stretch of the freeway and onto dirt roads and Forest Service roads, Derrey said in an interview.
The mapping services were looking to “compensate” for the drivers but ended up offering a “route which is not viable.”
The department reached out to Apple and Google Maps to notify them of the problem and change its routes but neither company has responded.
“The mapping services are not easy to get a hold of,” she said.
With construction and lane changes that could last up to five years, Derrey said, “We recognize there’s a problem. We’ve been emailing them.”
By Nov. 10, both Apple and Google appeared to have fixed the problem.
Jay Wiseman, the fire chief for Snoqualmie Pass Fire & Rescue, said the department did not respond to any accidents that were a result of the navigation issue.
However, he warned drivers that the alternative routes mapping apps might suggest are not always suitable for commercial or passenger cars. The apps might be pushing drivers toward roads that receive little to no maintenance and could be buried in snow.
In the winter months, because of the amount of snow around Snoqualmie Pass, there are no alternative routes outside of I-90, Wiseman said.
