Apple Maps is redirecting drivers heading eastbound on Interstate 90 toward Snoqualmie Pass onto a dirt road, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
The problem started about a month ago, when WSDOT began work on a planned construction project, and has led to some drivers getting stuck and in need of a tow truck.
WSDOT spokesperson Summer Derrey said the department has 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. 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.
Since then, 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.
By Thursday, looking at the routes on her phone, Derrey said it appeared Google had fixed the problem. Apple had not.
“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.”
