Building Oregon's Coast Highway 1936-1966: Straightening Curves and Uncorking Bottlenecks

From the devastating 1936 fire in Bandon, Oregon to the building of the Columbia River Bridge in 1966 this story charts the epic journey of building Oregon's spectacular coast highway across a steep basalt cliff, through Arch Cape, bridging Thomas Creek gorge and leveling mountains. When finished the highway had closed the last gap in U.S. Highway 101 from the Canadian border to Mexico.


About the Author
Even though he was born in California and earned a degree in history from San Diego State College, Joe Blakely has lived most of his life in Eugene, Oregon, where his various careers have included selling and appraising real estate, repairing and refinishing furniture, and working with the Office of Public Safety at the University of Oregon before his retirement in 1999. He resides in Eugene, with his wife Saundra Miles. His first book was "The Bellfountain Giant Killers," the miraculous story of a little high school winning a state basketball championship in 1937. It received so much attention that Mr. Blakely felt he may have found a niche. His third book was "Lifting Oregon Out of The Mud, Building the Oregon Coast Highway." This compelling historical story includes unbelievable construction photographs of the 1936 coast bridges. This book completed the first phase of building the Oregon Coast Highway. A subsequent novel "kidnapped, On Oregon's Coast Highway-1926" has remained popular. His new book "Building the Oregon Coast Highway-1936-1966" resumes the interesting struggle facing Oregonians as they build one of the most spectacular highways in the world.