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Bypassing Highway RTCs with Backroads

Post by Trexer0
It was noted with all the highway closures this weekend that routes were being suggested by the routing algorithm that utilized back roads to bypass the RTCs. This is obviously not ideal as it would be dangerous for users to be routed along back country roads in the middle of winter. I'd suggest that if the Coquihalla is closed due to weather a gravel road through the same area is not likely to be a viable option.

The current solution that was placed to deal with this issue was to close these backroads till June with RTCs. This corrects the issue but come June these routes will again be available for use.

I should point out that the routes utilizing these backroads were typically listed 3rd due to the unpaved road penalty.

All these roads were set as Off-road / Not maintained. I'm not sure what will happen when Waze activates these and differentiates them from Unpaved roads in the app. Should these be automatically changed to unpaved streets they may be favoured more in the route ranking.

There was a suggestion these route may be set as PR to add a bigger penalty and thus prevent them from being used year round. This may be appropriate but perhaps we want the app to consider using these routes in Summer?

Another question would be are these even usable as routes in the summer, as in if the highway is closed is their actually an opportunity to access these routes or when the highway is closed would this routes also be blocked?

I can't find the news article today but one of these routes had a news story about someone getting stuck in winter due to following their GPS.

A take away from this as well is that when adding RTCs to highways it may be worthwhile to see what routes are suggested by Waze when they are in place to see if dangerous routes are suggested.

Anyways I think this is a worthwhile discussion and if anyone has first hand knowledge of these backroads they can provide that would be great. We talked about this briefly in GHO but I identified more routes with this problem since then.

Hwy 5A
Juro FSR/Shrimpton Ck Forest Service Road - Unpaved
Glen Lake Forest Service Road - Unpaved

Coquihalla
Maka-Murray Forest Service Road - Unpaved

Hwy 1
Donald Forest Service Road - Off-road

Let me know if you encounter another road that needs to be added to the list.
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Last edited by Trexer0 on Fri Nov 03, 2017 4:25 am, edited 3 times in total.

Post by BryceCampbell
I personally think, this might just the nature of Waze (and perhaps other apps, didn't test them). If they see a closure, it is going to always try to make a route. You can de-prioritize roads/routes, but in the end, I doubt it would ever make a difference given the "perfect storm" of events that happen. The number of times that all four links from the lower mainland to the rest of BC and the country have been closed, I can personally count only one.
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Post by Kayos_On_The_Road
I believe we do need to figure something out for this, but I'm not sure what the solution is.
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