Truck-Safe Routes? There’s No App For That

Not again, U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal thought, as he sat in a traffic jam outside Greenwich: Yet another truck tried to scrape through an eight-foot parkway overpass, probably led astray by whatever app had given the bad directions.

Most frustrated drivers can’t do anything more than beat their fists against the steering wheel. But as Blumenthal fumed, calling it ​“absolutely intolerable and unacceptable,” he decided to actually do something about it.

Blumenthal sent a letter to Google and Apple, co-signed by U.S. Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Ed Markey of Massachusetts, requesting that they update their mapping apps to alert truck drivers about height restrictions on the roads.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (DOT) had made a similar request almost a year ago. The companies said then that it wasn’t their responsibility, that truck drivers need to buy their own commercial navigation software.

Blumenthal said that the problem is bigger, pointing to college students who might drive their U‑Hauls to campus every fall. He said that if tech giants didn’t comply, he plans to hold Congressional hearings and introduce legislation to force them.

The senator made that announcement at a Monday morning press conference, surrounded by state troopers and civil engineers, in the parking lot of the DOT’s fleet garage in the Amity neighborhood. Behind them, cars flew by on the Wilbur Cross Parkway, drowning out their answers to reporters’ questions about other ways to prevent the mishaps.

“It’s a nightmare for drivers like me,” Blumenthal said. ​“We need frequent and timely notifications.”

While the state doesn’t have official numbers on how often trucks and buses hurtle into overpasses, officials said they know it’s a problem. Trooper Josue Dorelus said the calls are ​“routine.” Just one overpass, the King Street Bridge near Greenwich, has been hit nearly 150 times in the last decade.

Blumenthal blamed apps, like Waze, for sending truck drivers to the height-restricted highways, like the Merritt Parkway, when traffic backs up on I‑95. When they realize they’re on ​“a road to nowhere,” they often have to back up to the nearest exit, delaying traffic, he said.

Wes Haynes, the executive director of the Merritt Parkway Conservancy, said that signage isn’t enough to prevent collisions, as motorists increasingly rely on their phones to tell them where to go, despite what’s on the side of the road.

“Ninety-five years ago, when Congressman Schuyler Merritt advanced his vision of separating car and truck traffic with a new route restricted to cars through his Fairfield County district, he never imagined a future when artificial intelligence would invite trucks to join you in the flow, unleashing them as misguided missiles,” Haynes said.

“We cannot engineer our way out of this,” he added. ​“It is time to put federal regulations in place requiring GPS navigation app providers to provide accurate wayfinding information by not directing trucks onto restricted roads,” especially if Connecticut wants to install tolls on its interstate highways that could send truckers looking for alternative routes.

Apple and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday afternoon.

“I just think the time has come,” Blumenthal said, calling the app updates a ​“virtual non-cost.” ​“I’m hoping they do the right thing.”