Oregon Public Broadcasting

Washington Department of Transportation crews re-opened Interstate 5 near Chehalis at noon  Friday.  It was closed Wednesday night by flooding, leaving drivers with no direct route between Portland and Seattle.

Annie Linstrom is a spokeswoman with the Washington Department of Transportation.

Annie Linstrom: “What we had to see happen first is that water had to recede in order for us to see what kind of damage we were looking at on the interstate.  It looked like minimal damage -- a lot less than what we saw two years ago in the December 2007 floods.”

Linstrom says semi-trailers will be given priority over cars in getting through the freeway. 

She says hundreds of truckers have been parked along the freeway since Wednesday, with no way to turn around or detour around the floodwaters. 

It’s estimated that 10,000 trucks use I-5 through Chehalis every day.  Closing the freeway has cost an estimated at $4 million a day.