Report 9197: Motorist surprises animal crossing freeway

Hello guys. I am Michael from Vancouver,British Columbia. About 25 years ago one summer evening, we were driving to Vancouver from Seattle. It was a warm,clear night. no wind. About 10 p.m.,we were a few miles south of Belingham. Now, that part just south of Bellingham on the I5 freeway, is a hilly wooded area for about 5 miles, surrounded by farms on the south and Bellingham on the north. Any way I was driving around a bend when all of a sudden I had to veer the van to avoid running into something running across the freeway going towards my right. I was on the outside lane,and he was almost across. At first I thought it was a large dog,but it was too big. It had short reddish fur, it was running on all fours.Then I thought a bear since it's shoulders were higher than its hips. it was the size of a small bear from the ground to top of back about 3ft. and maybe 5 1/2 ft in length. All this is happening as I'm swerving around. good thing no one was in the inside lane. So when I swerve, he turns his face around,and then I'm surprised that it has a flat face,no snout like a bear or dog. It was definitely an ape type face. It had big eyes like a gorilla maybe. It wasn't feroucious looking.It just looked scared. I didn't stop,I was too freaked out.