SANTA CLARITA, Calif. — With the work week fast approaching, authorities scrambled Sunday to move traffic around a major artery out of Los Angeles that was shut down by a fiery interstate tunnel pileup.
The main southbound lanes of I-5 were to reopen this morning, authorities said, with detours around the tunnel area. Officials hoped to reopen the northbound lanes Tuesday.
But on Sunday, I-5 was still shut down in both directions, snarling traffic on surrounding roads, after Friday night’s pileup crash left more than two dozen trucks and other vehicles in flames.
Investigators determined that 31 vehicles — including tractor-trailers and one passenger vehicle — were involved in the crash 30 miles north of Los Angeles that killed two men and an infant and injured at least 10 people, authorities said.
The fire spread from vehicle to vehicle, sent flames shooting nearly 100 feet in the air outside the tunnel and reached temperatures as high as 1,400 degrees.
The tunnel runs beneath I-5, the main West Coast interstate. The freeway also is a major route from Los Angeles to its northern suburbs.
The southbound lanes of I-5 were closed for 21/2 miles; the northbound side was closed for about a mile.
The tunnel, built in the 1970s, and its mix of curves and darkness has long been regarded by truckers as one of the most dangerous areas of the freeway.
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