Using Google Maps and other GPS-based navigation systems is how many (the majority?) of drivers navigate the world, particularly when driving in unfamiliar places.
There is one spot in Michigan where drivers say these algorithm-based mapping and navigating software had been directing motorists with a risky traffic maneuver that is expressly prohibited by highway signage.
The Problematic Grand Rapids Interchange
That spot is in downtown Grand Rapids where US 131 meets I-196. The complex interchange, shown below, has several left off-ramps and on-ramps.
The traffic merging in from the left is prohibited from exiting at the immediate next exit. So, coming from southbound US 131 onto eastbound I-196 heading into downtown, you cannot cross 3 lanes in the span of a few hundred feet and exit at Ottawa Ave.
MICHIGAN ROADS:…