LONGVIEW — On her way to Vancouver from Yelm on Sunday, Vicki Krumm’s Google Maps app suggested a route 25 minutes quicker than going through Interstate 5 construction in Woodland.
The problem? The app made the same suggestion to likely everyone else on the highway.
The other problem? The two-lane, winding residential road wasn’t made for freeway traffic, especially commercial rigs.
What was expected to be a quick bypass on her way home from her family cabin, turned out to be three hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“It was insane,” said Krumm, who estimated 200 vehicles were on the road. “We didn’t go over 12 mph the whole time.”
The route suggested by Google Maps at Exit 27/Todd Road when headed south is causing so much congestion that residents have been unable to back out of their driveways.
The Washington State Department of Transportation reports the route was no longer a detour on Google Maps as of Tuesday after the department requested the change. Google was also working to update Waze, which is also owned by Google parent-company Alphabet.
Google representatives told the state they could not specifically target freight traffic to advise them to avoid the route, according to transportation department consultant Tiffany Mancillas.
The route’s steep Kalama and Woodland roads, some of which are prone to landslides, are known as spots where vehicles with trailers get stuck or overheated, Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Troy Brightbill said.
Plus, “it doesn’t create a faster route,” Mancillas said.
The state does not consider the road to be an alternative route to avoid construction on southbound North Fork Lewis River Bridge, which is reduced to two lanes around the clock through the fall to repave and replace damaged and broken expansion joints.
Unlike much of I-5, there is no alternate highway to detour vehicles onto. So while bridge construction continues, drivers are stuck, sometimes for up to two hours, in traffic.
The state’s latest travel advisory suggests delays of up to 90 minutes or more starting thismorning through the weekend.
The previously suggested backroads also have drivers rejoin the highway around the Woodland exits for Walmart or Horseshoe Lake Park, Kalama Officer Mike Castellanoz said, both of which are well before the bridge and the end of the construction zone, often leading drivers right back into bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“It is taking just as long, if not longer, than staying on the freeway,” Castellanoz said.
‘Local traffic’
To stop people from using Green Mountain Road, the state and county have also set up “local traffic only” signs near the Todd Road Exit.
But enforcing that is difficult. Brightbill said deputies can’t stop people just for having out-of-state plates.
A deputy has been stationed at Todd Road to help with congestion, and in East Woodland to help with traffic, as well as to quickly reach Lewis River Valley for emergency calls.
Mancillas said crews are working 24-7 — even if they can’t always be seen — including under the bridge.
Those workers are split over two 10-hour shifts this month, as the dry summer months are needed to get the work done.
Deck repairs were made last summer on the northbound section, but the southbound section of the bridge hasn’t been worked on since 2018, according to the state.
Judy Baldwin, 76, who lives near Lane Road in Woodland, said she has seen so much congestion near her home, she fears emergency vehicles’ ability to reach those in need.
The congestion is forcing her to shop for groceries only in the morning, a time she said she can more easily get to and from home.
Krumm said she hit southbound traffic as far north as Castle Rock on Sunday. When she reached the Green Mountain Road route, she said she regretted causing such backup near people’s homes.
“I feel bad,” she said. “I’ll never do it again.”
Krumm plans to move to Longview from Vancouver on Saturday, meaning her husband will have to regularly commute through the road work.
Krumm, on the other hand, has plans to stay north.
“I’m going to find a job up there.”
