Part of flood-damaged I-5 could reopen tonight

[Chief]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004056643_webstormmainbar06m.html

By Andrew Garber

Seattle Times staff reporter

Interstate 5 through flood-ravaged Lewis County may be reopened to limited traffic tonight, state officials said this morning.

If all goes well, the Department of Transportation could allow traffic on one lane each way, Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond said. However, initially only truck traffic will be allowed.

A 20-mile stretch of freeway has been closed since Monday's drenching storm pushed the Chehalis River over its banks.

"As our crews have been working around the clock, we've breached the levee. We watched the water flow through in the night. We find this morning that we have not as much damage as we thought," Hammond said.

**SCHNIPP**

That's the first good news I've heard in days about this. If they can get at least 1 lane in each direction moving, that's significant. I'd advise tuning in to Portland TV this afternoon, to see what kind of copter shots they can get before the sun sets...

Developing...

[karma]

It's a shame that it was closed but how stable is this land up under the highway with it being that wet?? I'll believe it when I see them rolling along, maybe they should heed what Klineline road is like and just how that moves when it's indated with water???

[Waterbuffalo]

From what I was watching on KGW, one lane on today or tomorrow will be open for Truck traffic only. And the regular traffic will be opened up as soon as they can get two lanes open.

[Chief]

They can't even do a proper survey until the water recedes, and they can start claring away the mud and other debris to see what really happened. Anything that keeps 7000+ additional trucks off of the Snoqualamie Pass is a good thing...

[Waterbuffalo]

If they keep 7000+ trucks off snoqualmie pass will surely within 10 years be replaced by all the building in Issaquah and many other East side communities that need to get to work in Seattle.