OR 58 is generally a modern two-lane highway with a speed limit of 55 mph (88 km/h),[2] built through the Willamette National Forest in the 1930s.

This is a popular alternate route for trucks on the I-5 corridor, avoiding the steep grades and winter closures of I-5 over Siskiyou Summit.

It continues into the mountains, up the Salt Creek canyon, to the summit of Willamette Pass, after which it descends into central Oregon.

Finally, it is an important alternate route for traffic moving up and down the West Coast, as bad weather frequently closes Interstate 5 at the Siskiyou Summit during the winter.

[6] In July 1865, the United States Congress authorized the construction of the Oregon Central Military Wagon Road from Eugene to Fort Boise in Idaho.

However, scandal and lawsuits regarding the quality of the road and its route reduced the amount of land actually patented by the company to approximately 235,568 acres (953.31 km2).

[13][14] A major realignment, crossing the Cascades at Willamette Pass rather than Emigrant Pass, was designed in 1933, and incorporated a number of "half viaducts" built into the hillside and one tunnel (the Salt Creek Tunnel) in order "not to scar the hillsides more than is absolutely necessary" through the Willamette National Forest.