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The highway as soon as carried stagecoaches throughout the Gold Rush, twisting its means via what’s now a nationwide forest and an space of the Sierra Nevada identified for snowmobiling.Within the winter, the rugged passage, often called the Quincy-La Porte Highway or County Highway 511 in Plumas County, Calif., is closed.However Wendy Becktold, an editor from the Bay Space who was on her strategy to go to an ailing relative in Reno, Nev., on Monday, mentioned that she had been unaware of that when she navigated her rented Toyota Corolla onto the backcountry highway throughout a record-setting snowstorm.Google Maps had guided her that means as a result of two main highways close to Lake Tahoe have been shut down, she recounted in an interview on Wednesday, echoing issues of different drivers and public security officers in regards to the potential hazards of relying too closely on GPS functions.They mentioned that Google Maps and Waze, which can also be owned by Google, together with different mapping applications, wouldn’t at all times account for seasonal highway closures or treacherous terrain, emphasizing non permanent highway closures as an alternative.“There have been a variety of automobiles behind us,” Ms. Becktold mentioned. “Clearly, Google Maps was routing everybody the identical means.”Ms. Becktold, 50, a senior story editor for Sierra, {a magazine} revealed by the Sierra Membership, mentioned she and her cousin had seen a tree limb on an influence line and had handed many cabins as they unknowingly pressed on. They’d stopped to place chains on their tires. Then, a employee in a security vest waved them off, mentioned Ms. Becktold, who lives in Berkeley, Calif.“He mentioned, ‘All people simply retains exhibiting me their telephones,’” Ms. Becktold recalled. “He was identical to exasperated.”A Google Maps spokeswoman mentioned in an announcement on Wednesday that the tech firm was taking steps to offer drivers with correct route info.“In mild of the unpredictable situations from the present snowstorm, our workforce is working as shortly as potential to replace routes within the Lake Tahoe space utilizing particulars from native authorities.” the spokeswoman, Madison Gouveia, mentioned. “We at the moment present a winter storm warning to alert drivers within the space, and encourage everybody to remain alert and attentive.”Google Maps didn’t reply questions on what sort of safeguards for drivers it makes use of, together with warnings about winter highway closings or unpaved roads. SFGate.com earlier reported the white-knuckle detours.In Washoe County, Nev., which incorporates Reno, a household of 5 from Southern California was stranded for 2 hours on Monday night time when their rented pickup truck acquired caught within the snow on a two-lane filth highway, the county sheriff’s workplace mentioned.The household had sought an alternate route on the way in which to go to kin for the vacations in Truckee, Calif., throughout the storm, which closed an 81-mile stretch of Interstate 80 and contributed to the snowiest December within the Sierra on document.Greater than 17 ft of snow had fallen throughout the month as of Thursday, in response to the Central Sierra Snow Lab of the College of California, Berkeley. The storm additionally closed Freeway 50 for about 50 miles within the Sacramento Valley and the Lake Tahoe Basin earlier than it and I-80 reopened.In a Fb put up on Tuesday, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned that the household had ignored illuminated warning indicators telling drivers to not use the Canine Valley-Henness Cross Roads.“Nevertheless, the household’s GPS received the battle of which know-how to hearken to,” the sheriff’s workplace mentioned in a Fb put up on Tuesday, including that the household had been rescued.It was not clear what GPS utility the household had been utilizing.In a public warning final week, the Washoe County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned that drivers had regularly taken the identical detour when utilizing GPS. From November 2020 to final February, emergency responders have been referred to as to 11 rescues, in response to the sheriff.Raquel Borrayo, a spokeswoman for Caltrans, California’s state transportation division, mentioned in an e mail on Wednesday that the company had tried to bolster that overreliance on GPS apps could possibly be dangerous.“When folks attempt to use mapping apps like Waze or Google Maps to keep away from freeway closures, they will generally be put in very precarious and harmful conditions with unplowed roads/filth roads, heavy quantities of snow and 0 cellphone service,” Ms. Borrayo mentioned. “We at all times inform folks to remain on highways and discover alternate routes that means vs. utilizing rural roads. We additionally advocate folks simply keep put and wait till the interstate or freeway closure has been lifted.”Throughout this week’s storm, a number of folks posted display screen photographs on Twitter of Google Maps and Waze instructions sending customers to the Henness Cross Highway, which the Sierra County Historic Society describes as a secluded and winding mountain highway that rises to an elevation of 6,920 ft. The highway, a main emigrant path from Virginia Metropolis, Nev., is “left off many maps,” in response to an outline on the historic society’s web site.The Donner Cross, named for the doomed snowbound pioneer household, a few of whom resorted to cannibalism throughout the 1840s, is about 40 miles from the detour.A spokeswoman for Waze mentioned in an e mail on Thursday that the corporate was dedicated to serving to drivers navigate effectively and safely.“In mild of this week’s snowstorm and altering climate situations, Waze Neighborhood Map Editors proceed to maintain our maps up to date with the newest real-time routing info,” the spokeswoman, Caroline Bourdeau, mentioned. “We encourage drivers to train warning and to remain alert on the highway,”Waze has a filter that permits drivers to keep away from unpaved roads.Crystal A. Kolden, a geographer and catastrophe scientist who teaches on the College of California, Merced, mentioned she couldn’t imagine it when she noticed that Google Maps had urged Henness Cross and different backcountry roads to drivers in search of alternate options to I-80.“They’re barely drivable in the summertime,” Professor Kolden mentioned on Wednesday. “How dependable do these firms have an moral duty to be?”Professor Kolden, 44, who was at her house close to Sonora, Calif., within the foothills of the Sierra throughout the storm, criticized Google maps on Twitter. Some commenters mocked her put up, saying that drivers ought to take duty for monitoring situations and that she gave the impression of a Prius-driving millennial.“Blaming susceptible folks for taking place the improper highway is identical as blaming a few of these poor susceptible individuals who drowned of their basement flats in New York Metropolis not way back,” she mentioned in an interview, referring to lethal flooding in September.On Wednesday, Google Maps confirmed pink dots with dashes in them on the highway that Ms. Becktold had taken throughout her circuitous journey on Monday. The highway closure warnings hadn’t been there two days earlier, she mentioned.“It wasn’t like we have been simply frolicking alongside, on the lookout for a day within the snow,” Ms. Becktold mentioned.Ms. Becktold mentioned she had no selection however to return to Berkeley when she had been about 150 miles into the 200-mile journey. Her cousin, who had been making an attempt to succeed in her ailing brother in Reno, ultimately resorted to flying from San Francisco to Reno — via Los Angeles, she mentioned.“It appears type of foolish at the moment,” she mentioned, “that there can’t be clearer info on-line that these roads are closed.”
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