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The article reports on several hours of heavy rain, mudslides and debris in California on October 16, 2015 that blocked two freeways including the Interstate 5, swallowed vehicles and stranded travelers.

The article reports on the economic impact of the collapse of a steel truss bridge on Interstate 5 over the Skagit River in Burlington, Washington, which led to 50-80% drop in sales and said to appear worse than the recession.

The Highway Patrol said speed, not faulty brakes, caused a big-rig driver to lose control of his truck, starting a deadly 2007 tunnel pileup on an Interstate highway. The Los Angeles Times reported that a Highway Patrol report showed that the driver, Jose Reyes, was going more than 65 miles an hour when he veered left and crashed into a concrete barrier after driving through an Interstate 5 tunnel. The limit was 55 m.p.h. The pileup of 33 trucks and a car killed two adults and a 6-year-old boy and closed the Interstate for two days. The state's transportation department has reduced the speed to 45 m.p.h. at the tunnel. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Fires that ignited along Interstate 5 in Stockton swept through a neighborhood and torched at least 30 homes, said a city spokeswoman, Connie Cochran. Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, she said, but returned to the fire lines. Paramedics treated residents for smoke inhalation, but no one was taken to a hospital. Officials did not cite an immediate cause for the four separate fires, which started about 11 a.m. in grass and brush along the interstate. High wind spread the embers quickly, officials said, while thick smoke slowed freeway traffic. Stockton is about 50 miles south of Sacramento. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

If you've ever driven up Interstate 5 from Los Angeles and over the Grapevine, you've passed signs for Tejon Ranch, the largest contiguous privately owned property in California. The Interstate passes along the western edge of the 422-square-mile ranch, which spills to the northeast across the Tehachapi Mountains and into the Mojave Desert and the San Joaquin Valley just south of Bakersfield. Like so much of Southern California before it was developed, Tejon Ranch is an environmental mosaic, a place where several ecological regions converge. Now, unlike most of Southern California, it will be protected from development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports that hurricane-force winds and heavy rain battered the Northwest part of the U.S. for a second day on December 3, 2007. Interstate 5, the main route between Portland and Seattle, was forced to close indefinitely by floods. Amtrak service between Eugene, Oregon, and Vancouver, British Columbia was halted due to mudslides. Sheriff Michael J. Whelan of Grays Harbor County said that in 30 years of his law enforcement duty theses storms are as bad as he had ever seen.

The article discusses the traffic snarls on Interstate 5 in California after 28 trucks and one passenger car crashed accordion style in a 500 long foot tunnel. It states that high winds fed the inferno caused by the crash creating temperatures of 2000 degrees, and led to the death of two adults and an infant. Officials are trying to determine the cause of the crash and will analyze concrete samples to assess the structural damage to the tunnel.

Describes the experience of driving on Interstate 5 in California. Length of the road; Monotonous scenery and desert scrub along the road; Reasons why people travel the road, including the efficiency of the drive between Los Angeles and San Francisco; People who commute to work on I-5; Lack of towns and cities on the main stretch of road; Fast-food restaurants; Poor radio and cell phone reception; Speed limit; Dangers on the road; Rest stops; Local towns.