'All of the sudden the road dropped from below me'
EUGENE, Ore. - A Eugene woman thought she would stop and smell the roses. She ended up having to call a tow truck.
Shehayla Jones says she thought she would drive down and stand by the river for a minute along River Avenue, under the Beltline overpass. | >>> Maps and Photos
"I came around the curve and I thought I was driving on a ramp," she said.
But she wasn't.
"I drove forward and all of the sudden the road dropped from below me and I couldn't go back," she said.
Milo Reese was sitting in his truck and watched it happen.
"It shocked the hell out of her," he said.
He said the car was sitting an angle and "I thought she was going to flip it there for a minute."
Jones said the entire front of the car just fell into a hole.
When Daniel Fellows of Dannevik's Towing showed up to help, he said the problem has been on-going.
"I was actually out here Sunday and it was a kid from Portland," Fellows said. "He didn't know what it was, drove right off."
Fellows said the towing company gets a lot of calls from that spot along the road.
"People just getting stuck in the loose rock, going off the road and what not, so it's a recurring problem that just needs to be addressed," he said.
His suggestion is for the city to put up a guardrail to stop people from driving there.
Shehayla Jones thinks it definitely should be addressed. She calls it a serious hazard.
KVAL News talked with Eric Jones of Eugene Public Works. He says that area has become almost impassable because of what happens as the river and the riverbank changes.
He tells us this is a good reminder that when you drive off a paved surface, you're really on your own.
According to Jones, the city is planning to make changes along River Avenue next summer that will smooth the transition and improve access to the river.
