The Oregon Department of Transportation has reduced the speed limit on a section of U.S. Highway 101 between Newport and Depoe Bay after recent heavy rains caused the road to drop significantly and put drivers and vehicles in danger.
The speed between mileposts 133 and 134 in the Beverly Beach area has been reduced to 35 mph from 55 mph.
As a temporary solution, ODOT crews applied gravel to the dropped section of the road this week to make it more stable.
“Since the ground is still moving, we need to wait for drier conditions before we continue to repair the road,” said ODOT spokeswoman Mindy McCartt. “Despite ongoing efforts by work crews to address the issue, the road’s condition is changing faster than repairs can be made.”
The Beverly Beach slide on Highway 101 between mileposts 130-136 is one of 25 landslides or rockfalls between Lincoln City and Newport, McCartt said.
The largest and most active slides often get names, she said, and there are three named slides on Highway 101 within a few miles of Beverly Beach State Park. These include:
- Johnson Creek landslide near milepost 133;
- An unnamed sunken grade at milepost 133.56 that has been active since the early 1970s;
- Carmel Knoll Landslide near milepost 135; and
- Moolack Creek Landslide from milepost 135.71 to milepost 136.18 “consists of a large-scale and complex landslide.”
The agency said constant wave action, accelerated by storms, causes continual erosion under sea cliffs, leading to continual collapses and landslides in the area. One vulnerable section of the highway from milepost 133.94 to 134.28 averages about six inches of loss per year, with some locations exceeding 1 foot per year, McCartt said.
“We examined several erosion control measures at this location and are trying to obtain funding for improvements,” McCartt said in an email to YachatsNews.
So it going to be impossible to drive between Lincoln City and Newport?