Whatchamacolumn: Dangerous curves on Highway 130 need guard rails
Direct to the point: The sharp curves at Upton Falls along Little Nestucca River Road — Oregon 130 — should have protective guardrails installed to prevent driver deaths.
I’ve thought that for decades — every time I navigate the dangerous curves 3 miles east of Highway 101. Every time, I visualize a deadly plunge far down into the Little Nestucca River for a vehicle going faster than advised by the 30 mph warning signs; every time, I leave that thought behind while pondering pending activities along that area of the Oregon coast.
Not this time.
Sunday, we were the first vehicle waved to a stop at Upton Falls by an extremely hysterical young woman. Her boyfriend, 32-year-old Tyler Bell from Dallas, had taken that plunge in a westbound GMC Sierra that we soon saw on its side in the river far below. We sped west 2 miles to get cell phone service and call 911, watching while every available piece of local emergency equipment raced to the scene.
Bell, we later learned, had died.
Thoughts of a guardrail that might have saved Tyler Bell’s life didn’t go away this time. It didn’t take long to compile more evidence of the dangerous curves at Upton Falls.
In June 2022, 58-year-old John Newman of Pacific City died in a near-identical accident at Upton Falls when his Volvo, according to KATU-TV, “left the roadway, collided with a utility pole and rolled off the roadway into the river.”
In August 2020, again reported by KATU, 57-year-old William Carter of Pacific City died in his Jeep Cherokee after another near-identical accident.
In August 2016, the Tillamook Headlight-Herald reported the death of 76-year-old Robert Tracey of Cloverdale after tire tracks in the gravel shoulder led to discovery of his Nissan Versa in the river, 150-feet down the embankment.
Those were what I found among what I assume are similar stories from past years.
In recent years, efforts by the Oregon Department of Transportation have helped warn drivers approaching the giant S-curve at Upton Falls.
First came installation of federally-required “Chevron Arrow” signs outlining sharp curves on Highway 130 and all across America — high-visibility warnings during the day and brilliantly reflective at night. They are required wherever the advisory speed of a curve is 15 mph or greater below the roadway’s speed limit.
More recently, the state installed large “SHARP CURVE AHEAD” signs on either end of the Upton Falls curves. That reinforces the advisory speed and Chevron signs, but it’s not enough.
Obviously, not enough.
If you want more proof, and can handle the visceral feeling it generates, look up the latest Google Map “Street View” of the westbound curves at Upton Falls. You will see, in that September 2023 image, skidding tire tracks in the shoulder gravel leading — and clearly over — the edge of the embankment.
When you see it, you are going to think, “There should be guardrails there.” And you’ll be right.
Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.
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