The roadway south of Depoe Bay, Oregon was once part of the main highway along the Oregon Coast, but now sits off to the side, forgotten by most automobile traffic.
The road less taken, though — Otter Crest Loop — still offers breathtaking ocean views for motorists with time for a short detour, or for bicyclists pedaling the highway.
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Oregon Recreation Report (Albany Democrat-Herald)
Daily passage numbers for summer steelhead moving through the Willamette Falls fishway improved somewhat from the previous week.
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Locals who live along the route are fine if it’s kept a secret, said Lincoln County Commissioner Don Lindly.
“They don’t want people to know about it, because they are worried about too much traffic on it,” he said.
The entrance to Otter Crest Loop is at the northern tip of the road, between milepost 129 and 130 on Highway 101. Turn west off the highway, and the route takes you south toward Cape Foulweather. More than a half-mile in, the loop turns into a one-way road going south. Cape Foulweather is 2 miles along the route.
The road to the Devil’s Punchbowl is 3 miles from the start of the Otter Creek Loop, which has plenty of places for people to pull over and soak in the scenery.
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Driver Injured When Pickup Plunges Down Embankment (Newport News-Times)
Slick pavement appears to be the cause of a one-vehicle crash on Cape Foulweather late Monday night. Luther Scott Arquette, 35, of Lincoln City was southbound in a 1995 Ford Ranger at milepost 130 on U.S....
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The Rocky Creek Bridge, with its 160-foot deck arch, sits near the start of the road.
While the road construction started in 1925, the span was created in 1927. It was designed by Conde B. McCullough, a former Corvallis college professor who built several of Oregon’s landmark coastal bridges, including the Yaquina Bay Bridge in Newport and spans in Florence, Reedsport, Coos Bay and Depoe Bay.
Ben Jones, after whom the Rocky Creek Bridge is unofficially named, helped establish Lincoln County in 1893, was mayor of Toledo and Newport, and served as a state representative of Lincoln and Benton counties.
According to Oregon Department of Transportation, Jones introduced legislation in 1919 that led to the construction of the Oregon Coast Highway.
Jones also owned a large piece of property near the bridge, which was named for him posthumously.
The Otter Crest Loop section of the Oregon Coast Highway was bypassed in 1955 in favor of a wider, straighter path, according to ODOT.
The stretch remained closed for a time until locals and tourist interests petitioned the state to reopen it.
The bridge was reconstructed and renovated in 2001, but historic characteristics were preserved.
Otter Crest Loop was transferred from the state to Lincoln County in October 2005 as part of the county’s financial match on the $150 million Pioneer Mountain to Eddyville Project.
