Washington traffic begins to flow again: Interstates 5, 90 now open

SEATTLE -- Traffic — rather than water — was flowing again on the state's major highways Friday with the reopening of Interstate 5 through Southwest Washington and I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass.

A 20-mile stretch of I-5 reopened to all vehicles this afternoon. Motorists were urged to be cautious because repair work would continue through the day.

On Snoqualmie Pass, where the highway had been damaged by flooding in about a dozen areas, eastbound traffic resumed at 9 a.m., with westbound traffic restarting at noon.

DOT state maintenance engineer Chris Christopher said on I-5, crews were helped by the fact that Chehalis River flooding was considerably less than the deluge that closed the freeway in December 2007. The water was also receding faster than anticipated, Christopher said.

On Snoqualmie Pass, crews had to clear snow and debris up to 15 feet deep in places and repair the damaged roadway and shoulders, said Don Whitehouse, DOT regional administrator.

"We've been working around the clock, our crews and several contractors," Whitehouse said. "We've been pouring concrete, rebuilding shoulders, hauling rock." Four damaged areas in the eastbound lanes were repaired by early Friday, and crews were finishing work on seven damaged spots along the westbound lanes.

Whitehouse said the road-clearing work was aided by the fact that cooler temperatures reduced the risk of avalanches.

Traction tires are advised on the pass.

Most Western Washington rivers had dropped below flood stage by midmorning Friday, although flooding continued in downstream areas along some major rivers, including the Chehalis and Snohomish.

Rivers are expected to continue receding, despite forecasts for more rain through the weekend. "It's going to rain some more on Saturday, but it will be something like two inches, just a fraction of what we saw on the big storm," said Mike McFarland of the Weather Service.

This week's powerful storm once again demonstrated just how vulnerable Interstate 5 is to flooding, with two trouble spots in Lewis County closing a 20-mile stretch of the transportation lifeline Thursday.

The closure is just another sign of a long-running issue: In the past 19 years, I-5 has been closed in Lewis County four times because of flooding where the Chehalis River is joined by smaller streams and creeks. Despite the repeated problem, a solution is still years away and local officials are wary that a proposed interstate fix would aggravate flooding to some county residents.

"We are saying that we don't want to solve the problem of the freeway at the expense of the people here, and their homes and businesses," said Mayor Tim Browning, of Centralia. "It is a huge, big complicated mess."

In the aftermath of this week's storm, roadways across the state were slowly being reopened as flooding abated. Stevens Pass on Highway 2 reopened Thursday afternoon. White Pass was partially reopened, though U.S. 12 remained closed beyond Packwood.

But in Lewis County, I-5's reopening "all depends on when the water goes down, and what we find when we inspect the pavement," said Randy Bateman, a Transportation Department official.

Some of the perennial flooding issues have become even more of a moving target because of this week's flooding, said Andrea Takash, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Seattle office.

"We will be down there looking at the area, and seeing what that data from this flood does to the project," she said. "This flood is going to factor into everything we do."

The big push to improve flood control in the area began after a 1996 storm and highway shutdown, but there has been a notable lack of consensus over the years.

Lewis County officials say they are not sure that a Corps of Engineers plan to build more than 11 miles of new levees at an estimated cost of $124 million would solve all the problems. It also could actually increase the flood risk to some local residents.

Local officials from the Chehalis River basin initially worked with state and federal officials to come up with a wide-ranging proposal for an expanded levy system, said Ron Averill, a Lewis County commissioner.

But some local officials became unhappy with aspects of the federal plan, and grew uneasy about assuming unknown costs of maintaining the system. They withdrew support for the project back in 2006. Then, after meetings with officials from Gov. Christine Gregoire's office, they flipped back in favor of the project in the fall of 2007 shortly before that year's freeway-closing flood, according to Averill.

Those floodwaters, in December of 2007, surged through much of Centralia, and parts of Chehalis, causing widespread damage to homes and businesses that took months of grueling labor and millions of dollars to repair.

As of Thursday evening, the flood damages from this week's storm appear much less severe. One big reason was that the Skookumchuck River that runs through Centralia crested well below earlier forecasts.

Still, some blocks remained swamped Thursday, including a low-lying Chehalis neighborhood just east of I-5, where water puddled between the highway berm and a railroad track. Some sandbagged and waited out the flood, while residents of an apartment building headed to higher ground.

"I spent last night in a motel but I don't have the money to keep that up," said Teresa Steffens, an apartment resident who works as a Mary Kay beauty consultant while her husband works at a tribal casino. "I hope it goes down soon."

But even if it does, there could be plenty more high water before any flood-control project is completed.

The Army Corps' Takash said the levee project is based on maps in a study completed four years ago — already eclipsed by two major flooding events.

She said construction could start in two and a half years and be finished in about seven — but only if the locals decide the project is the one they want. "We will proceed, but only of course with buy-in from the locals. If the locals don't support it, it won't go through."

Bart Gernhart, deputy regional administrator for the southwest region of the state Department of Transportation, said there also are no currently reliable cost estimates for the project, which is authorized, but not funded, by Congress.

The $124 million price tag is based on a cost estimate from 2003, "and it's for a project that is probably not the project that would be built Friday," Gernhart said.

"We are working on a new estimate, and with local agencies in the area to identify the changes we need to make it acceptable. You still have local creeks, such as China Creek and Dillenbaugh Creek that flood, and if you still have this localized flooding in the middle of town, that's not being addressed by the project.

"We are trying to add additional components we need to shape it to make it more palatable to local entities," Gernhart said.

The stretch of I-5 in question was built in the 1960s and '70s. It was closed for four days in 1996 because of flooding, for four days in 2007, and so far for two days this winter.

Yet any solution is years away, all sides agree.

"We need a broader solution," Gernhart said.

Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com and Lynda V. Mapes: 206-464-2736 or lmapes@seattletimes.com

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