I say go for it John.
An interesting track arrangement that might work if you had room off one outside corner for your reverse loop, would be to connect it to the main layout via a wye. That would give you infinite reversing possibilities. Also a little more real estate for accessories, structures or scenery. Reach wouldn't even be that bad.
It could even work with your updated benchwork plan. And you only need one reverse loop because the wye allows you to enter from both directions.
