Question Why does Garmin not allow routing on WA US 97 (Hood River to Yakima)

[Neal]

Today I thought I had an easy drive going from Hood River (north side of the river on US 14) to Yakima, WA. Figured for an hour jaunt up 14 to 97. Nope, put it in my Garmin RV 890 and it said I had to go south across the dreaded bridge with 9ft wide lanes, east on I-84 to I-82 totaling about 3.5 hours. I didn't do extensive route study as I "assumed" it wasn't an issue, not concerned of tunnels or low overpasses. As I approached "The Dalles" I decided to pick up the bat phone and reach out to @ARD to see what she could find. She checked various sources, nothing showed us an answer. I had pulled off the interstate to see what she could find out for me. I figured it may be some of the navigation preferences so I cleared all of the avoidances, still no change. I tried to trick the system in taking me to a city on 97 then further north and it wouldn't go. After stop 1 it routed me back south then east again. I didn't think to try my dash nav system which has broad profiles such as "trucker" instead of exact params. I wasn't sure if it may be a bridge weight issue or what. Oddly when I set things back up with my avoidances and recalced it cut an hour off my route now taking me up to 14 then east I think it was 221. I got to the Y in the road, left for 97 and I paused. I really wanted to go that route and see as I did not believe Garmin. But as my RVF entertainer of the year status is already secured, I didn't need to reinforce it so @ARD and I agreed, take the safe route. So I did.

So now, for the forensics analysts in the house. Can someone find out why Garmin would not let me do this leg on 97?

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

It has been a few years since I’ve been over that route, but I don’t recall anything that should prevent a motorhome using using US-97 up to Yakima. It has some fairly narrow, twisting sections and 2-3 fairly steep grades (maybe 6%), but it you aren’t in a hurry, it should be doable.

I wonder if there is no current GPS data available for that route (it is not heavily-traveled) and the Garmin RV 890 just doesn’t know what’s there so it takes the safe route?

EDIT: A good part of that route runs through the Yakama Nation land; I wonder if the tribe has closed access due to the Covid-19 situation? They have been hit quite hard by it. Just another thought.

2ND EDIT: A check on the WDOT website doesn’t show any restrictions on that part of US-97.

TJ

 

[sheridany]

I would suggest you open a ticket with Garmin support as I have had some success giving them an issue and having them recreate a route to understand why. There are so many variables at play here it’s difficult to isolate the reason.

 

[Retired]

I tossed my Garmin in favor of my phone.

 

[flyboy013]

@Neal I plugged in a route from my current location (MD) to Yakami via Hood River (or thereabouts). For the Hood River to Yakami leg it routed me on the path that you wanted to take. This is on my Garmin 780.

 

[Neal]

Thanks @flyboy013 - as I mentioned to @ARD I wished I had pulled out my 770 to see what it said OR use the Pioneer AVIC NEX dash GPS. Something with the RV 890 and my setup. I guess I'll need to ask Garmin. I'm also seeing odd speed limits in ID and OR, maybe WA that don't jive, maybe they are using truck speed limits, something is off that I'll mention to them as well.

 

[J&JD]

97 as you know by now is a good easy road for your coach. We have traveled it many times with no problems. The trouble part might be hwy14. I found this with a bit of searching:

in the morning crossed over the Columbia River on Hwy 97 north to Maryhill, Washington. Right after you cross the river you head west on Hwy 14. A nice, quaint, quiet road. It affords beautiful scenery and a few stops along the way to admire the river and the magnificent views. BUT, warning, there are a few tunnels to travel through with one of them being only 12′ 9″. Luckily we are 12′ 4″ and made it safely through but many big rigs would not make it. AND there isn’t really much room to turn around since the river is on one side of the road. We did stop a few times just before the tunnel as no one was behind us and waited for cars to pass through so we could drive through the center of the tunnel.

We would not make that as we measure 13’3”?

 

[ARD]

@Neal I plugged in a route from my current location (MD) to Yakami via Hood River (or thereabouts). For the Hood River to Yakami leg it routed me on the path that you wanted to take. This is on my Garmin 780.

View attachment 7054

Oh wow. I'm totally running those babies at the same time for a while.

 

[Kcmusa]

I sent in a report on a different routing issue, here is garmin response;


Thanks for contacting Garmin. I apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. We had to disable the 2022 mapping on all RV and semi truck units because we found multiple mapping errors. I have added you to a case that will notify you when the new update is available.

Charles
Product Support
Garmin International
For 24-hour access to support videos, manuals, FAQs & more, visit the Support Center.

 

[sheridany]