The junction is located north of downtown Florence near the municipal airport and the mouth of the Siuslaw River, which empties into the nearby Pacific Ocean.

62 (see Oregon highways and routes), which follows the Siuslaw River and the Coos Bay Rail Line out of Florence and into the Suislaw National Forest and the foothills of the Coast Range.

[4] From the tunnel, the highway descends from the mountains along Turner Creek to briefly rejoin the Siuslaw River and the Coos Bay Rail Line.

The highway descends into the Willamette Valley and passes through the town of Veneta and along the south shore of the Fern Ridge Reservoir.

The highway follows Amazon Creek on West 11th Avenue towards downtown Eugene, turning north onto Garfield Street for five blocks.

[2][3] In January 2016, the Oregon Legislature passed SB 5, designating OR 126 between Florence and Eugene as "William Tebeau Memorial Highway,"[6] named after a pioneering ODOT engineer.

At the junction with Washington and Jefferson streets in downtown Eugene lies the western terminus of Eugene-Springfield Highway No.

The highway crosses Deschutes River and travels through Redmond, where it is briefly concurrent with US 97's bypass of the city.

[14] The Knowles Creek tunnel was opened to traffic on June 4, 1957, and was later renamed for Ralph A. Petersen, a Lane County commissioner who had lobbied for the highway's construction.

[18] The freeway would reach Downtown Eugene by following the Washington and Jefferson Street Bridge over the Willamette River, which had already been planned by the city government.

In 1972, US 126 was eliminated and OR 126 through the Eugene-Springfield area was routed onto a newly constructed freeway through north and east Springfield, and then the older I-105 at Eugene.

[23] Currently, the route of Oregon OR 126 through western Eugene runs along several surface streets, most notably including West 11th Avenue.

The proposed parkway, a limited-access expressway with some at-grade intersections and some interchanges, would run north of the current West 11th alignment.

Transportation planners have argued that the new route is necessary to fight congestion in Eugene and its western suburbs and that the highway would facilitate traffic and growth in the year 2025.

Construction on the parkway was set to begin in 2006 though land-use appeals and lack of funding delayed and ultimately prevented groundbreaking on the project.

However, the freeway proved to be unpopular with Eugene residents, due to its impact on existing neighborhoods and riverfront access.

The mothballed West Eugene Parkway, a non-freeway route on a similar alignment, was seen by supporters and critics alike as an implementation of these plans.

In July 2006, ODOT suspended work on it, and recommended a no-build alternative to the Federal Highway Administration.

Opponents to the parkway have several reasons for their objection: On June 18 and 19, 2001, the City of Eugene, Lane County, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), among others, held a two-day "West Eugene Charrette" to discuss the future of the project.

This consensus was not implemented, although ODOT and FHWA continued to spend millions, for a time, on the environmental impact statement.

[27] Supporters, and the government agencies involved in the planning of the project, pointed to the fact that the parkway proposal has been approved by city voters in two referendum elections, most recently in 2001.

This route then proceeds through Eugene's downtown core and turns south at an interchange near the Ferry Street Bridge.

Franklin Boulevard separates the south shore of the Willamette River from the northern edge of the University of Oregon campus.