Shoshoni is open for business despite what your phone might have told you, Mayor Joel Highsmith told Cowboy State Daily on Monday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Google Maps and Apple Maps apparently mistook a detour for a closed road and redirected traffic onto remote Wyoming backroads to either Moneta or Castle Garden, depending on whether the destination was Thermopolis or Riverton.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Both routes are unsuitable for large trailers and campers, Highsmith said.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIf we get rain, those back road can be impassable because of mud,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s scenic but what if you have an accident or any kind of health issue in that remote area?\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat could be putting people at risk.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shoshoni Police Chief Chris Konija said he was aware travelers are being directed away from Shoshoni.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He blamed AI. The artificial intelligence does not realize that there is an alternative route.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have reported that they started going down these dirt roads before they had second thoughts, and luckily turned around,\u201d Konija said. \u201cSome people went back to Casper before realizing that we have a detour road so they delayed their trip unnecessarily.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cell service can also be spotty\u00a0in these areas so Konija encouraged travelers to question maps diverting them down two-tracks.<\/p>\n
WYDOT said the detour on U.S. Highway 20\/26 traffic on Shoshoni\u2019s east end was so a contractor can replace the Bighorn Divide and Wyoming Railroad crossing.<\/p>\n
The work is expected to be finished later this week. But in the meantime, traffic is being diverted, not stopped, when they come to Shoshoni.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no stop. It’s not a one-way. You’re not waiting for a pilot car,\u201d Konija said. \u201cYou\u2019re just diverting through a dirt road around the railroad track and then you get right back on the highway.\u201d<\/p>\n
The temporary detour road was built just for this project. Konija said it is a flat road and not even that dusty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
AI\u2019s Fault<\/p>\n
Konija said there is nothing he can do to change the rerouting mistake in the navigational apps and correct it with the official detour route. He said his department doesn\u2019t don\u2019t have a direct line to Google to correct the mistake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I could, and would if I could, but I don’t have Google on speed dial,\u201d Konija said. \u201cWhat we are doing is asking people to always check official sources.\u201d<\/p>\n