Who would have thought it’d be bumper-to-bumper traffic on the sand road across the North Spit?

It seems like it. And to cope with the conga line of vehicles loaded with people to see the mystery shipwreck, U.S. Bureau of Land Management staff have changed the traffic flow.

There will be no more two-way traffic on the foredune road; no more roaring up onto the road bank to allow pickup trucks to maneuver past. Off highway vehicles and street legal vehicles are allowed on the BLM sand roads, but only street-legal vehicles can drive on the beach near the shipwreck.

“We made contact with about 1,400 people out there Saturday and Sunday on South Dike Road,” said BLM Public Affairs Specialist Megan Harper. Download Map

That didn’t include any pickup truckloads of people or hikers who came down the beach from the Horsfall Beach parking lot on U.S. Forest Service land.

Take note

• ATVs heading south down the beach from the Horsfall Beach parking area must stop and turn around just south of the New Carissa shipwreck, at the Federal Aviation Administration tower.

• You do not need an ATV permit when you are on BLM sand roads on the North Spit (aka the South Dike Road or the Foredune Road). You do need an ATV permit if you are riding an ATV or driving a vehicle in the Horsfall area. No matter where you drive on the sand, you need the appropriate vehicle flag.

As to the shipwreck, sand is shifting every day.

Researchers are getting closer to possibly identifying the vessel, but as of Wednesday, they had not announced any definitive answer. Hannah Contino, a research assistant at the Coos County Historical and Maritime Museum, said they believe the vessel was a schooner used for transporting lumber. They are continuing to try to match vessel details with those depicted in the museum’s historic photo archives.

On the beach, sand erosion has revealed more of the shipwreck, Harper said. Another 10 feet of the foredune is gone.

“Definitely there is evidence for wiring. They are thinking it was steam-powered,” Harper said.

That, along with hex nuts, will help narrow the time frame in which the ship may have been built, she said. Also, some of the crew bunks or racks are starting to become exposed down in the hull. The rubrails on the shipwreck are made of Douglas-fir, which would indicate a vessel constructed in the Northwest.

For those who still want to visit the shipwreck, this weekend BLM and Oregon State Parks beach rangers will be out there. Drivers are encouraged to read the signs for directions and to understand where certain kinds of vehicles are allowed. All-terrain vehicle permits and flagging are required on all vehicles.

“No one’s been injured, and we want to keep it that way,” Harper said.