Paulina Highway from US-395 to Prineville?

[doorknob60]

I'm driving from Nampa to Bend tomorrow, and I'm bored of the usual routes (US-20, US-26 or US-95/OR-78), and am interested in the highway through Paulina, OR. Here is the Google Maps routing: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/44.231546,-119.0306428/Paulina,+OR/44.3027201,-120.827018/@44.113897,-120.3878647,9z/data=!4m10!4m9!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x54b9632c4d1fd98f:0xf626d9638c1bd193!2m2!1d-119.9636299!2d44.1328962!1m0!3e0

It's a 118 mile road, and Google puts it at just over 3 hrs (which sounds a bit high; if it really would take that long I'll probably skip it this time), but Bing puts it at 2:11, which sounds more reasonable. Oregon's speed limits max at 55 but on well maintained straightaways I'll hit 70 or 75. What time should I expect to make on this road? To get there, I'd probably take US-26 from Vale to John Day, then 395 down to the cutoff.

From the bit of information I could find on the forums and street view, it's a paved road the whole way, and in decent shape. I also know that from Prineville to Paulina it's a state highway (OR-380), and the rest is some combination of county and forest service I believe. Is anyone here familiar with the route and has any useful information? Thanks.

[doorknob60]

Update: The road is quite well maintained the whole way. The turn off 395 is well signed and easy to find. The pavement quality on the Grant and Crook county sections (395 to Paulina) is quite good. The pavement on the ODOT section is pretty mediocre. It's a bit bumpy the whole way, but still fine to drive at full highway speeds (as in, 75 if you want). The signage is a bit more consistent on the ODOT section though, consistent with other state highways including reassurance markers, SPEED 55 signs, and mileage signs. Regardless, we drove the 118 mile road in 1 hour and 55 minutes, so I averaged about 61.5 MPH. If you hit 65-75 on the straightaways you'll do good time. If you stick to 55 (why would you?) of course it'll take longer but that's Oregon for you. On the county section, I saw one vehicle the ENTIRE WAY. From Paulina to Prineville I saw quite a few more though, particularly past Post, where there was something that looked like a firefighter camp. I still didn't have to pass any vehicles though. I also saw no cops. It was a very pleasant drive, and a very good alternative to US-26 from John Day to Prineville.