Oregon Public Broadcasting

This is hardly the first time winter weather has shut down interstate highways in Washington state for days at a time.

But as Christy George reports, after decades of studies, public officials in both Washington State and Washington, D.C. are moving toward fixing the underlying causes.

Just over a year ago, flooding closed down I-5 at Chehalis, Washington and last January, avalanches shut down I-90 at Snoqualmie Pass outside Seattle.

The I-5/SR 6 Junction (mile post 78)

This year, both interstates are closed at the same time.

The problems are different but still need the same thing - money.

The combined economic cost of having those roads closed last year was an estimated $75 million, according to Washington State University's Social and Economic Sciences Research Center.

Boeing manufacturing was on hold waiting for parts, farmers lost livestock, and trucks full of products sat idling on highway shoulders and ramps.

The group's study concluded that I-90 needs two more lanes at Snoqualmie Pass, and I-5 needs a big flood control project throughout the Chehalis River Basin.

You can find Chehalis engineering studies dating back to 1948 on the web.

Ron Averill: "They actually go back farther than that. One of our bigger floods was in the 1930's."

Lewis County Commission chair Ron Averill says last year's flooding galvanized local and state governments.  
Averill and officials in Thurston and Grays Harbor Counties have formed the new Chehalis River Basin Flood Control Authority. They're hoping to see levees built around Chehalis.

Ron Averill: "I, quite frankly, fit in the crowd that says that there are two types of levees - those that have failed, and those that will fail. The problem that I foresee is that right now we don't have any alternative."

Last year, the Washington state legislature approved a 50 million dollar bond levy to fix the Chehalis problem.

But it will take federal dollars to get the job done - normally a hard sell, but this year is different, says Washington Congressman Brain Baird.

Brian Baird: "This is the kind of project that I think will be thoroughly appropriate for the stimulus. On the one hand, you put people right to work building the dikes and other elements of the flood control package and the levees. At the same time, you help save money down the road. It's pretty bard to rebuild your economy when it's underwater."

President-Elect Barack Obama has made infrastructure repair the centerpiece of his economic revival plan.

Planes at the Chehalis-Centralia Airport were moved to higher ground.

But Obama has also said he wants to fund "shovel-ready" projects to create immediate jobs.

Lewis County's Ron Averill says the levee project needs a two year design phase before it's shovel-ready.

But, he says, he's got two bridges on the Chehalis that were washed out a year ago, and they're just waiting for the shovels.

Ron Averill: "So if I can take that money and rebuild those bridges, then the money I was going to put to fix the bridges can then be redirected to something else."

In the long run, Averill thinks the solution may need to include a new dam.

The solution for I-90 is to add two more lanes, making it a six-lane highway at Snoqualmie Pass.

There are no shovel-ready plans for that, says Congressman Brian Baird says, but it's just as important as I-5.

Brian Baird: "What this shows is that when you don't invest money in basic infrastructure in the name of short-term savings, you're going to pay some long-term costs. And that's frankly what the outgoing administration has done."

Whatever engineers decide to do, Washington State Climatologist Phil Mote says they need to factor in the region's changing climate.

Phil Mote: "The statistics that we use to guide those decisions have to be adjusted, and we can't just use the past data as the guide. We've already seen just in the past few years on many rivers unprecedented flows. That's not necessarily an indication that climate change is causing them - that's certainly an area of active research - but a recognition of a range of future possibilities should be incorporated in guiding better decisions about future infrastructure planning."